


Many Crossing Lines: The Rebellion Years

by WampusRoar13



Series: Peverell Lines Run Deep [7]
Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Addams Family (Movies - Sonnenfeld), Vampire Chronicles - Anne Rice
Genre: BAMF Original Percival Graves, Bisexual Harry Potter, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, Promiscuous Harry Potter, Teenage Rebellion, Vampires
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:47:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 108,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27565498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WampusRoar13/pseuds/WampusRoar13
Summary: Percival Graves finds his grandson in London, alone and hunting horcruxes, the day before his thirteenth birthday. And with the horcruxes reckoned and his grandparents communicating, Harry James Potter decides to make his own fun, inspiring a whacky bunch of yearly adventures. He's just a teenager!
Relationships: Aberforth Dumbledore/Minerva McGonagall, Albus Dumbledore/Gellert Grindelwald, Albus Dumbledore/Original Percival Graves, Albus Dumbledore/Original Percival Graves/Gellert Grindelwald, Gomez Addams/Morticia Addams, Lestat de Lioncourt/Louis de Pointe du Lac, Original Percival Graves/Gellert Grindelwald, Orion Black/Aberforth Dumbledore, Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks, Sirius Black/Narcissa Black Malfoy
Series: Peverell Lines Run Deep [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1467184
Comments: 108
Kudos: 97
Collections: Harry Potter FFs





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> In this story I would like to explore a Harry who doesn't know who his mate is until he turns fifteen. Luck of the draw, he doesn't get a vision to warn him, so he gets to play the field. If there's anyone you'd like to see Harry hook up with let me know. I'd also like to bring Petunia and Dudley into this story. And if you missed seeing Remus/Tonks getting together in Slitherin to Greatness, then this is your story!
> 
> One warning... Chapter three is going to make it very apparent that I started writing this on Halloween, if the extra fandom in the bunch doesn't. Just let me have this! Da da da da!

Prologue: Peverell Lines Prologue

_ September 1974 _

“How did he manage to get you all kicked out this time?”

“Set a cretin gnome loose on the heartless btich’s house elf while he was serving tea. Only took him three days to execute; he’s getting pretty good at it.”

“What did Abby say?”

“He scolded him for causing trouble; after she cursed him the other month I was worried too… But, he laughed his ass off once the boys went upstairs.”

“She didn’t?” The Director hissed nastily.

Orion saw two secretaries, where they were entering the small room that housed the elevators, quickly turning on their heels to vacate the space with the angry vampire. He said nothing, not feeling his friend should have to be self conscious for cowardly individuals, “She did. I threatened her to within an inch of her life, but it makes me terrified to go to work every other week. Reggie’s gotten good at flying under her radar, but Sirius… You know how he is, Perce.”

Percival Graves sighed as he and Orion waited for the elevator. The wizards were heading back toward his office from their ally conference, which had dragged on too damn long. Both were ready to grab their jackets and get to dinner, needing to be anywhere but work. 

The Director did in fact know how his oldest godson was. Sirius Orion Black treated being in Gryffindor as a way of life. He admitted, “Britain may not have done the same Statute of Secrecy crap, but Europe’s magical family law is as ancient and shitty as anywhere.”

“Who are you telling?” The Black Lord demanded, “I don’t even know of anywhere else that magical marriage contracts are still a thing. Who let’s parents make teenagers sign something like that?” Orion growled, “Cygnus threatened to do it to his girls; I told him he’d never get another penny from our family and that’s only if I didn’t kill him. If Sirius or Reggie ever even… Sometimes I don’t know why Abby puts up with me and my family.”

“You’re his mate and he loves you. You can’t help that your father was a bastard,” Percy reminded him, “I knew the rogue wasn’t going to risk being at Grimmauld Place before he went back anyway. He’d die if Aberforth didn’t put him on that train.”

Of course, the rogue wasn’t his only nephew at Hogwarts anymore, “How’s Reg liking school?”

“He’s fine, he’s got Cissy and her friend, Severus. Boy’s not crazy about being apart from Sirius so much, but it’s part of being in different houses; he’ll be fine,” Orion was glad for his youngest niece. He was even more ecstatic that, with both boys in school, he didn’t have to spend every other week at Grimmauld place with Walburga. At least until summer rolled back around.

“I thought Sirius’ first letter was going to burst into flames like a howler, he was so excited,” Orion chuckled, “He keeps talking about getting his lion.”

“Jamie too,” Percival huffed, “We’re never going to keep them from it until they’re seventeen.”

“I want to agree with you, but Abby’s determined. I’m not getting involved, he and Sirius can duke it out.”

The vampire laughed, “I’ll put money on the boys; we’re getting too old to win against the new generation.”

The Black Lord groaned, “Don’t remind me. I’m already dreading turning fifty this year.”

“You are the youngest person in the family!” Percy reminded him, “The kids excluded, obviously.”

“I know, but it still bugs me. Besides, you’ve been thirty-five for a damn eon by now.”

Rolling his eyes the Director acknowledged, “That part’s true.”

There was silence for several long moments and Orion studied his best friend. He could tell that the vampire was lost in thought, as the Graves Lord stood perfectly still, not bothering to keep up the constant movement that he was so used to exhibiting at work, “Why don’t you just go see him? Firecall and talk? Send a letter, anything?”

The Director huffed, eyes moving down to stare at his feet, “I don’t know anymore. What would I even say?”

“I love you, I miss you, I’m not even mad anymore,” A femine voice joined them in the little room housing the elevators, “By the way, take your pants off, because I’m coming over.”

Orion laughed so hard he had to lean on the wall beside the elevator shaft. He couldn’t deny that Porpentina Scamander was one of his favorite people. The woman took absolutely no shit from her declared work husband and he loved the way that she challenged his and his mate’s best friend. Once he could breathe, even as Percy shook his head at her, the siren exclaimed, “That works!”

“That does not work,” Percy hissed at his work wife, “Besides, it’s been decades. He may not even want to speak to me anymore.”

Now it was Tina who rolled her eyes, “Percy, the man could break out any time he wanted; he’s proven that many times. It’s his own damn castle! The only reason he’s stayed in time out is because of you. You were genuinely mad at him and he can’t stand that.”

He huffed, “I’ll think about it, just... New topic, please.”

The elevator sounded it’s arrival and as they all stepped in Tina acquiesced to his request, “So, how’s it feel to be an old man?”

“You are older than me!” Orion said with mock offense.

“Yeah, but now you’re officially going to be one of us!” Tina told him, “Bet Sirius has had a field day with that.”

He groaned, “Damn straight he has. I don’t want to be fifty!”

“Then don’t,” Percy said dryly, as the doors started sliding shut, “You are a siren, it’s your choice.”

Tina puffed at him exasperated, “Says the man who loved being fifty and who has stayed deaged for someone he’s not even speaki…”

A hand dashed in to stop the doors right before the doors closed. When it popped back open and Albus Dumbledore realized who was in the elevator, they could all see that he wished he hadn’t caught it. After a moment of shock, he stepped into the golden machine with them, pressing the button for the floor below Percy’s office. He kept his back to the three and his lips tight, obviously refusing to say a word.

Percy and Orion both rolled their eyes meeting glances, before the Graves Lord took an even breath, refusing to give an audible show of his frustration, as he cast his eyes upwards staring at the ceiling. He prayed to Mary and Morgana that the ride would be blessedly short. 

Irritated with his brother in law, Orion glanced over to Tina and realized that she was glaring absolute daggers into Albus’ head for ignoring her best friend and work husband. He knew that the woman was protective of Percival; had been since he returned from spousal abduction to the States with Flea. Her resentment was only intensified by the way Albus had ignored his family since their infant daughter was kidnapped by muggle extremists. Although Aberforth and Albus had started talking again, tentatively, when Sirius started Hogwarts, Orion wasn’t thrilled with him either and did not like being ignored when the brothers were supposed to be in contact.

As the door slid shut, he had a thought, “Sirius was telling me that Jimmy placed team Captain over the summer, how did it go?”

Over the years, Percival Graves had been hatefully told that vampires couldn’t feel and were heartless a million times. When he glanced toward Orion’s reflection and spotted Albus Dumbledore’s horrified expression at the nickname in the elevator metal, it became his personal mantra for several seconds, to keep himself from busting out laughing. They were all shielding at work, but he would have given anything to hear what the fae and genius was thinking at that moment.

Luckily Tina didn’t even miss a beat, popping her ‘boss’ in the shoulder, “Oh, you didn’t tell me that! Tell Jim I said congratulations!”

“I will,” He said smoothly, glancing at her with a small grin for covering him, “It went very well. He managed to get invited back to lead the team again next year. Flea and I were surprised when Sirius didn’t join.”

“Heartless bitch wouldn’t sign; they required dual consent,” Orion growled, “He showed out so badly, that’s when she cursed him.”

“Jimmy mentioned she had something to do with it,” Percy acknowledged, “When he turned up at the apartment. He seemed excited to play the team’s mascot though.”

“Getting my oldest to show out is never a challenge,” Orion admitted, “I’m sure he made a right spectacle.”

“Did he manage to get you three back to Hogsmeade before school started?” Tina asked the Black Lord.

“That he did,” Orion smiled, “Used a cretin gnome this time.”

“Points for originality,” Tina told them as the doors slid open. 

Albus Dumbledore stepped out quickly, face still looking like he had tasted a lemon, and disappeared around the nearest corner. The three of them shared a look as the door started closing once more. As soon as it was shut, they all burst out laughing. Orion leaned back on the furthest wall of the elevator to hold himself up. While Tina’s head fell forward onto Percy’s shoulder, her whole body shaking.

The vampire shook his head at the two, wiping a tear from his eye, “We’re all going straight to hell.”

“Jewish,” Tina reminded him playfull for the billionth time in their fifty years together at Macusa, “Go to confession, you’ll be fine.”

Percy snorted, “Forgive me father, for I have sinned… My best friend’s brother in law was being a prick, so we screwed with him.”

Orion laughed, “Can’t you just say mate? It’s less of a mouthful.”

“Own it,” Tina encouraged, “You’ll feel better.”

“He’s had that shit shut down for so long,” Percy sighed, “I don’t think it’s applicable if you’ve never said two words to one another.”

“Not even when Blondie went to prison?” Tina asked him, “Nothing? Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

“Albus is the master of avoidance,” Orion told her, as they stepped out of the elevator, heading for Percy’s office, “There’s a reason he took so long to confront Gellert. A blood pact promising to always love each other didn’t keep him from jack shit, and even then, Percy had already done the hard part to make The Liberator want to break that wand in half when he took Flea away.”

“Fair,” Tina moved on quickly, remembering that Percy had already tolerated talk of his other mate as much as he would today. She didn’t blame him honestly; neither of Percy’s mates were prizes in her opinion, “Where are you two heading?”

“Dinner, care to join us?”

“Can’t, Mora had her foal. I promised to help after work,” Tina told them, stepping into her office to grab her coat, before catching up to them in Percy’s. 

“The auburn hippogriff, right?” Percy clarified.

“Yep!”

“Give my congratulations to all,” The Director encouraged as she quickly took off for home. He and Orion headed back toward the elevators once more, moving to the international floo network and waiting for Abby to join them in the States for a night in New York.

When the bar owner arrived he saw immediately that his younger mate and best friend were entirely too happy, “What is it?”

“Can’t we just have a good day?” Orion asked, stealing a kiss as they finally moved out of MACUSA.

“At an international conference full of all day meetings?” Aberforth reminded sarcastically, “No, no you cannot.”

“He’s got you there,” Percy pointed out. 

Orion still couldn’t force the grin from his face as they moved toward their favorite italian restaurant in the city, “Fine, we may have done a bad thing to your brother.”

“He had it coming,” The salt and pepper haired fae said confidently, “But what did you do?”

By the time they finished their story, Aberforth was being held up by his mate, after Percival shared the image of his big brother’s face using legilimency. He couldn’t breathe because, unlike Percy, he knew exactly what his genius of a brother had been thinking. Fleamont was Percy and Grindelwald’s only child; that made James the Flaring Fiend’s heir. The thought of them calling the legendary and notorious Liberator’s heir ‘Jimmy’ would have just bugged the absolute hell out of the barely red haired wizard and that made his gut want to explode from the induced hysteria.

The trio enjoyed dinner, sharing the rest of their day’s experiences, both at the conference and the bar. The two government officials talked about the endless meetings they’d endured and Abby shared the letters that Sirius and Reggie sent home that day. Then they left for their upscale apartment building, where Orion kept a place in the city for nights like tonight, when they were in the States; the couple’s place just a floor below their best friend’s. 

“Can’t you just move back?” Abby demanded, “Gods, it’s been decades.”

Not wanting his mate caught off guard or surprised if Percy was short, Orion sent a warning of their earlier conversation across their mating bond. He wasn’t surprised when that did nothing to dissuade his goat of a fae mate. Kendra Dumbledore might have called him the auguery of their family, but that was too good for what a determined, stubborn, irritating arse his lover could be.

“What for?” Percy asked, “The kids are in hand with you two and, as today demonstrated, your brother wants nothing to do with me.”

“Look, Perce, I’m never going to be a Grindelwald fanboy, everyone knows this,” The fae started, “But he’s your husband. You two are going to have to talk eventually.”

“And say what?” The vampire demanded, “I’ve never agreed with his politics and I’m not going to!”

“You think I’m asking you to? Me?” Abby set him a look, raising his eyebrows, “But, I don’t think he even agrees with what he did anymore. He’s stayed there because he doesn’t feel like you want him now and everyone can see how miserable you are without the bastard. Just admit that you’re still crazy about the son of a bitch and get him moved to house arrest here.”

“I thought the point of this was to get me back in Europe,” The Director pointed out with a sad smile, trying to distract the dark fae with his sarcasm.

Aberforth snorted, “I would love nothing more than for you to come back. Commute to work if you don’t want to let Tina take over. Flea would be ecstatic! James would explode into confetti. Gods know that boy worships the ground you walk on. More than anything though, I just want you to not be miserable anymore…” 

The empath fiddled with the Dumbledore heir ring on his middle finger, “Percy, I know why you left. I agree with you, he had to stop; more than anyone, I wanted him stopped. But, he  _ did  _ stop. He gave the wand up to Albus,” The wizard sighed, “Listen, I can’t imagine how you felt in that elevator today. And, I’m certainly not asking you to share with the class, I’m just saying think about it. You’re doing to him what Albus did to you today and that’s not right either… From what I gather even those two idiots talk.”

“They do,” Percy confirmed quietly, “My magic’s linked to anything that goes on in Nurmengard.”

The siren of the trio was angry on his friend’s behalf. Everyone wanted to never let Percy forget who he married, well before Grindelwald ever rose to power, and held the vampire’s career hostage just like the Dark Lord had his spouse. Yet when the blasted public wanted the man contained they were more than happy to put that on the Director of Security for MACUSA, who didn’t even live or work on the same continent. Orion glared at his husband, not liking the hurt that flashed across their best friend’s face.

Aberforth still pushed forward, “Do that then, if you’re not ready to see him… Just… Please don’t be miserable, especially when I know being with him is what you want. You left, you made your point, he stopped. There’s nothing wrong in getting back with him now.”

By that point they had arrived in the building and were outside the Black family’s apartment. The vampire Director stared up at the ceiling, “Maybe you’ve got a point. I still don’t know what to say to him though.”

Orion snorted where he was unlocking the door, “There’s always Tina’s suggestion.”

“Ugh,” Percy rolled his eyes, “That woman’s a menace. Good night, assholes.”

He trudged up the stairs, his last words quiet, little more than a whisper, fond but distracted, as the Graves Lord was lost in his own head.

The two disappeared into their apartment after issuing farewells and Abby looked at his mate, “What did Tina suggest?” The siren just shared it through their mating bond, but the younger Dumbledore brother could feel his mate’s irritation with him. He huffed, “Someone had to say it.”

“Maybe the day your brother pulled his little schtick wasn’t the right time. You didn’t see Percy’s face when he just put his back to him like that,” Orion pointed out.

“It’s been ridiculous since James was born,” he hissed at his husband, “Percy has wanted the blonde terror back for over a decade. If I’m the last one in this family willing to kick you idiots in the arse when you need it, so be it! But I will not apologize for that!” He spun and took off for the bedroom. 

Still irritated Orion called out, “Yeah, well maybe you should start with your brother, before you come for the rest of us!!!”

The door slammed and he was never more tempted to go sleep in Graves’ spare bedroom. Instead, because he did not want to have to explain the contents of their argument, he pulled off his tie and shirt. That left him in only his white sleeveless undershirt as Orion got a drink before collapsing into his recliner. He had one arm thrown across his eyes, the other holding his drink, feet propped up, when he felt the warding magic on the apartment alert him to a fire call.

The siren was just praying that it wasn’t the Ministry as he let the call come through, in no mood to have to floo across the damn Atlantic this late. He didn’t even bother to move his arm, if anyone didn’t like that he was relaxing at home, they could simply kiss his…

“Well, don’t you look like a prize.”

He recognized the voice and quickly sat up to greet his tattoo artist, Rhys Inkler. Orion couldn’t stop the smile that spread across his face, “What are you doing calling me so late, old man? How’s the baby?”

“I’m not the one turning fifty, you old bugger! And she’s still not sleeping through the night; not sure I’m gonna make it, Ori,” Rhys disclosed, unabashedly observing the Black family and Slytherin crests that adorned each of the siren’s upper arms, making sure they were still in perfect condition. They were.

“I remember those days,” He shook his head.

“Well, speaking of kids, that’s kind of why I’m calling you,” Rhys told him. When all he got in response was a confused expression the man moved to continue quickly, “Your son just walked into Tattoo Artists here in Diagon Alley; trying to bribe me for a job. He’s got three other boys with him.”

“Ahh shit!” Orion complained, throwing his arm back over his face, “Damn it all and I can’t even be surprised; his uncle is out of the country.”

The artist laughed, “Well, I told them I was going to make sure the gold they paid me was authentic. I didn’t want to tip them off that I knew you; I figured they’d just leave and get some hack job to do it.”

“You are not wrong,” Orion said, listening to the shower running in the bedroom for a few seconds, “Go ahead and do it, Rhys.”

“What!? Are you sure?” 

“You don’t know them, but they will get it done one way or another. By a hack job or themselves,” Orion nodded, sure of his decision, “Go ahead. They’re all mine, you have my permission.”

“Alright man, as long as you consent,” He nodded, “They want a…”

“A lion, upper arm, where my crests are. Roaring, golden fur and red maned.”

He stared at the man for a moment, “Okay… Maybe they wanted a lion for a while, but that’s too damn specific. Have you seen the drawing they brought me?”

“No, the picture is a copy of their uncle’s. They’re getting one just like his.”

The man snorted, “Fine, then. You coming to pick them up?”

“Nah, if they can get out, then they can get back in. They always manage,” Orion told him, “Do me a favor and let them think they got away with it, huh? No reason to get in trouble with the mate.”

“Fair enough! Wouldn’t want Aberforth after my arse either,” Rhys admitted then cut the firecall off. 

Orion knew that he had until Albus got back to Hogwarts. Minerva McGonagall was undoubtedly waiting on the boys and once the irritating redhead got back, she’d tell him what they got up to. The older fae would never risk not telling his brother what the boys did; then Abby would have a right fit. At least, if the boys kept their mouths shut about where, it wouldn’t be his arse getting chewed out.

Sitting and having a couple more drinks, the Black Lord thought about going upstairs and seeing Percy. He didn’t know if that would make things better or worse though. After debating for a few minutes, as the shower was still running, Orion decided to risk it.

Getting a refill he moved upstairs, barefoot, to his best friend’s apartment. The warding magic automatically unlocked the door recognizing him and Orion slipped inside, worried Percy might have gone to bed after the taxing day. Instead, he found the Graves Lord sitting at the desk in his living room, crumpled balls of paper thrown all over the floor having been cast away, while Percy scribbled on his turul stationary. After a few moments the vampire also tossed aside the one he was working on. 

The younger lord did not have to ask what he was writing, “Struggling?”

“Why the fuck is this so hard, Ori?” Percival demanded, sitting back harshly, index finger going over his lip as it always did when he was frustrated, “I mean, Abby’s not wrong. I am married to the son of a bitch! This shouldn’t be a Herculean task!” 

He sat on the sofa, legs extended before him, facing the Director, “What do you want to say to him?”

“What?”

Genuine confusion, it was worse than Orion feared, “You know, how you have a conversation with anyone. You say what you want to say. What do you want to say to him?”

Percy stared at him for several minutes, just thinking about the question. He hadn’t talked to Gellert in so long and, before he’d brought Flea with him to the States, they’d had it out. There really was nothing left to say about what had happened then. Gellert had already begged him for forgiveness, given up all his political intentions, and even asked him not to leave. Percy had anyway, needing to be sure that the seer was really going to stop. 

There was just the here and now, but he wasn’t sure what that looked like for them anymore. He was in the States, Flea was grown and finally had a son. James was between them and basically lived in Nurmengard when he wasn’t with Percy, but there was only so much they would be able to talk about in terms of his quidditch success.

Seeing the haplessness on his friend’s face, Orion sighed, “Maybe ask if he wants you to open the bond back up?”

That seemed to make the vampire startle. After he realized what his siren friend meant, the Director shook his head, “I never muted our bond.”

“You didn’t?”

“Of course not, I’m not your brother in law,” Percy told him tersely, “I left to prove a point, but I wasn’t going to let some mob show up on his doorstep and kill him either. If he ever needed me, I’d be there.”

“Of course you aren’t! I’m sorry, Perce, I didn’t mean…”

“No, no, it’s not you,” He moved to apologize, head cradled in his hands, “I’m sorry, this is harder than I thought it would be and I hate it.”

Orion waved him off, “Look, I know that he writes to Albus and he’s expressed how much he wants you back. He doesn’t seem to know that you’d be there if he needed you; maybe you should just tell him that. It’s a start.”

Seeing the sour look that crossed Percy’s features, he raised an eyebrow, “What?”

“Nothing.”

The Black Lord thought back over what he just said and then chuckled, “Percy, they aren’t together. It’s just letters.”

The vampire was grateful that he couldn’t blush because he probably would have looked like the Ilvermorny banners at that moment, “Are you sure?”

“Positive!” Orion assured him, “Gellert isn’t going to be with anyone without your approval, especially Albus. He knows the two of you still haven’t spoken and you’re his husband. I swear on that, Perce. Albus is just one of the only people who write to him, along with Flea and Jamie, and Lady Bagshot.”

“Okay,” the Graves accepted, staring at the blank stationary in front of him.

Orion spent the next several hours as an impartial sounding board as the other wizard painfully forged through a letter to his mate and husband. Thinking about the man downstairs, although they couldn’t get legally married because of Walburga, and the threat to Orion’s own magic if he broke the marriage contract, he felt himself melt toward his husband. Fiddling with the ring on his finger, symbolic though it may be, he still thought Abby should have given the vampire a day after what happened in the elevator. Then again, there was also the reality that they were going back to Europe at first light for work. 

Aberforth Dumbledore also was not a ‘beat around the bush’ sort of individual; there was a reason he called him a goat… Maybe that was what he should get the fae for Christmas, a little billy goat. If the little terror butted his mate in the arse a few times, maybe he’d slow down in the way he did it to other people. Probably not, but it was worth a shot.

When the blasted letter was finally as complete as Percival was going to get it, Orion felt the wards flare down stairs, as the man was sending it off, “Ahh Hel and Hekate.”

“What?” Percy asked, letting his owl, Carni, a Great Horned Owl, fly out the window.

Orion rolled his eyes, “Okay, between us, the boys snuck out to get a tattoo. I’m guessing Albus went back tonight and had to come right back when he found out.”

“Does Abby know that you know?”

“Hel is great and I’m not an idiot; absolutely not.”

“Touche,” Percy said as his friend headed for the door, “Good luck with that.”

“Let’s meet at seven for breakfast before we head back,” Orion said, already halfway out the door. He closed the door and turned, finding Aberforth at the top of the landing, undoubtedly coming to get him as he was sure the older fae asked to speak to both of them, “What now?”

He was confused when Aberforth flinched, then he realized that the other wizard thought he was still pissed from their fight. Not wanting to keep fighting he quickly corrected him, “I felt Albus come in, I meant him.”

“Oh,” There was relief in the other’s voice. Obviously Abby didn’t want to fight anymore either, “I don’t know yet… I should probably talk to Percy.”

“He’s going to bed,” Orion told him. He saw hurt flash across the other’s face and, again, it occurred that he’d misstepped. Abby thought Percival had asked not to see him. Apparently he was off his game tonight and he needed to fix that before he got his own arse sold out about the tattoo, “Not that! He’s meeting us for breakfast. We just sent off his letter to Grindelwald.”

All he got was a pair of wide eyes, “Oh.”

He chuckled, “Come on, let’s go see what Sirius has done this time.”

Abby smiled at him, “One of these days it’s going to be Reggie and he’s never going to let you live it down.”

“I hope you’re right,” Orion told him, “But, so far, a warm day in Helheim still seems more likely.”

“Percy would say…”

“Hell is scorching, yes, I’m well aware,” Orion beat him to the punchline.

“He’s only been in school for three weeks,” Aberforth complained, grabbing his mate’s hand now that he realized the man wasn’t still angry at him, “What could he possibly be doing?”

“It’s three more weeks than we got last year,” Orion reminded him. Albus had been on their doorstep just after the feast ended the boys’ third year; some welcoming prank that wound up with all the teachers, and the headmaster, doing an elaborate dance and resulted in the first day of classes being cancelled. Although Orion had sent the self proclaimed marauders one incensed howlder, Aberforth hadn’t been able to breathe at the thought of his son doing that to his uncle and the man’s staff.

They entered the apartment and Orion quickly spotted the headmaster and his phoenix companion. He could only assume that was a faster means of travel than floo after a long day. 

Albus was sitting on the sofa awaiting them. The fae looked up and blushed but still greeted the siren, “Orion.”

“Oh, so you do remember my name,” His brother in law didn’t miss a beat, “I was beginning to wonder.”

Aberforth snickered, always delighted when anyone gave his brother a hard time. Especially when the genius had it coming. “I love you so much,” He reminded his husband.

“I’m so sorry,” Albus said, embarrassment obvious, “I… panicked. I just… I didn’t know what to say.”

“Lesson of the night seems to be that anything is better than silence,” Orion reclaimed his chair, pulling Abby down into his lap, “So, what did he do? Paint the Great Hall in hippogriff feathers? Declare his love for the werewolf in grandeur during Transfiguration? Put cretin gnomes in old Sluggy’s office?”

Aberforth tried to hide his huffing laughter by hiding his face in Orion’s neck. Sirius did have an unbelievable amount of sexual tension with his sandy blonde friend and his mate had long predicted that the two would end up together. While the fae wasn’t so sure, as he could feel both’s strictly platonic emotions for one another, he was sure that they would be lifelong friends. He wouldn’t be surprised if their mates wound up sharing many traits with the marauder they weren’t mated to.

Albus smiled. For all everyone complained about his twinkling eyes, his brother lit up like nothing he’d ever seen whenever the younger siren was around and no one complained when the dark Dumbledore twinkled. Still, he was happy for his brother. He knew the fae had stopped aging, worried about Orion’s youth when they first met, but he was hoping with the man turning fifty that they’d feel more on par with one another finally, “Nothing quite so impactful this time; although I’ve heard cretin gnomes are all the rage recently. They were caught sneaking out.”

“Oh, okay…” Aberforth was genuinely surprised. It wasn’t that sneaking out wasn’t bad, it was. The boys just got caught doing it so often, that it was usually just a firecall, not a home visit from his brother.

“I know, not when I normally turn up,” Albus acknowledged, knowing he was never going to hear the end of this, “It’s what they were doing while they were gone that I thought you’d want to know about.”

“Well, don’t leave me in suspense,” Abby instructed.

“They went and got a tattoo.”

Aberforth groaned, “Oh Hel, I can only imagine what they go too! Who the fuck gives fourteen year olds a tattoo? Would Rhys?”

“Tattoo Artist doesn’t do minors without parental consent,” Orion told him without a moment’s hesitation.

“Of course they fucking don’t! What hack job would? What is wrong with people? Bloody absolute hell, those stubborn idiots! I am going to kick their…”

Both men just let him storm off into the office, undoubtedly going for a howler, to let his son have a piece of Abby’s mind. Orion waited until he could hear the man screaming into one of the red envelopes before turning back to his brother in law, “Did they get it?”

“A lion? Indeed. As a matter of fact, they mentioned where they got it too.”

“Bloody hell,” Orion cursed, now he was in trouble too.

Albus chuckled, “That was a very… persuasive statement, but Rhys would never have done that unless you knew.”

“Yeah, I knew,” Orion admitted, “We’d just had a row over the lift incident when he popped in and they were going to do it anyway, so…”

The fae flinched at the mention of their earlier altercation, even as the siren waved off his ending. Knowing he hadn’t handled that well, the oldest Dumbledore felt absolutely terrible. He had never known what to say to Percival Graves; he’d muted both of his mating bonds so very long ago. He didn’t know what to do or how to talk to the man; it’s not like you can just apologize for decades of elected isolation and expect the hurt it caused to go away. 

Gellert said that the vampire still hadn’t reached out to him either. And Albus in no way wanted to get between the two husbands… Alright, that was a bad way to even think about that… But still, he wasn’t trying to make things more complicated between the pair. So, he wrote to his friend and heard about his heartache, but continued to avoid his other mate, even as he kept in contact with Flea and aided in raising the family’s youngest like James was another nephew.

Aberforth stomped back into the room, red envelope securely in one hand, an owl in the other, “Anything else I need to add before I send this?”

“No, that’s it.”

Orion was surprised that his brother in law seemed to have zero interest in selling him out to his mate. He accepted the scarlet fae’s attempt at an apology, knowing the smoke would have to long clear between his friend and Grindelwald, before any of them would be crazy enough to try and put Percy and Albus in the same space again. So, once the howler was sent off to arrive with Hogwarts’ morning post, the Headmaster left quickly to go back and get some sleep.

The next morning Sirius and his friends endured the howler with pride, everyone in the Great Hall quickly becoming aware of exactly what they’d done and what their new brands were. Albus spotted his youngest nephew, along with Cissy, about to fall out of their seats, hysterical, while Severus didn’t bother suppressing a chroused eye roll with Lily Evans. 

Apparently Abby had come to be pissed at him once he’d left, because Albus got a howler as well. He and Minerva quickly dismissed everyone to their morning classes as the cat calls started toward the troublemakers, before Sirius could actually start a strip tease at breakfast. They both knew he would.

There was some surprise when, the next day, two more howlers arrived in the same vein as the first. Then it happened again the next day, and the next, and the next. By the second week of howlers coming every day, even Minnie was giving Albus sideways looks, that plainly cited where she thought Sirius got his dramatic tendencies. The older fae agreed with her silently; that Abby ever worried Sirius wouldn’t be his son was a damn joke! 

Still, everyone got used to the new normal of Sirius Black’s dad bitching about him getting a tattoo at fourteen. It actually became a standard warning for if students forgot something, their last chance to run back to the dorms before they’d be late. Almost a month after the howlers started, Albus shared a relieved look with his nephew when the first morning arrived with only a regular letter at breakfast.

The other boys looked almost disappointed, having enjoyed the creative lengths that Sirius’ dad went to as he came up with new ways to yell at his son for the same thing everyday, but James still leaned in to read over his friends’ shoulder. The quartet of Marauders were sitting at the Gryffindor table’s end, right below the instructors. From the black wax of the seal, rather than red, Albus was guessing Orion finally had enough of his husband’s antics.

Still, despite many’s apparent disappointment, and all the money that was exchanging hands, soon it was time for all the kids to get moving. As the boys took off, he believed for Horace’s first class of the day with Slytherin, the Headmaster heard them talking.

Sirius was grinning bright like the sun, “Gotta love it when the old man puts his foot down in the right direction!”

James smiled at him as he moved around the table, a bag slung over his shoulder, “And that would be any direction other than yours?”

“You’re damn straight!” Sirius said as they high fived, “Whoop!” 

The sandy blonde next to the Black heir crossed his arms and mocked him, “I thought your father was persona non grata and you didn’t like him?”

“Only every other week,” Sirius corrected the sarcastic werewolf, “Once you enter the shedevil’s domain he becomes an enemy of the state and should be treated as such!”

“As someone with an enemy of the state as a relative,” James put in, “That is offensive; your mother is worse.”

“Who are you telling?” Sirius asked, before snatching another donut and running off with James’ glasses, where the Potter heir had been finishing homework at breakfast.

“Arsehole, come back here!” James took off after his best friend.

Remus Lupin rolled his eyes at their antics, but ran after them for the door, “You’re both idiots!”

“Guys wait up,” Albus chuckled as Peter Pettigrew sprinted after his taller friends. 

He shared a grin with Minerva at the boys’ commentary before she took off for classes and he waited for the hall to clear out. He spotted Lily Evans meet up with Severus Snape and Narcissa Black at the door to leave for class; little Reggie looked to trail after them until they reached the stairs. He hoped that his nephew was alright, he hadn’t wanted to check in a third time and crowd the eleven year old; siblings being in different houses always struggled, especially during their first year.

Still, he hadn’t really been surprised by the choice. Sirius took after Orion in appearance and charm, but modeled himself after Aberforth’s brashness. Reggie was the opposite, although maybe not with appearance. His little nephew shared the Dumbledore brothers’ joint hallow in his longing to shield others, while his model for dealing with their crazy family was his father through and through, subtlety and cunning to the end.

Once everyone had cleared out of the hall he moved back to his office to write several correspondences, but as the fae entered Fawkes was just coming in with a letter from Nurmengard. Albus struggled to bat down the surge of excitement that came with the raven seal, reminding himself that they were nothing more than best friends, against every insistence of the long muted bonds that he hadn’t acknowledged in all but seventy five years. And given who Gellert was married to…

God, what in the hell was wrong with him? Because when he’d first gotten a letter from G after the lift, he’d been sure what it was about, and it wasn’t follow up on their discussion of how to remove that damned curse from his Defense position. Albus had been sure the Dark Lord was going to throttle him through the missive; actually, if Gellert wasn’t in prison, he’d assumed it would have been a howler. His first thought, almost a month ago, had been that the blonde siren was going to be having Flea bring him some of those after that mess.

Then it hit him that he hadn’t even considered how Fleamont Potter would react to their encounter; let the howlers floweth forth. Despite the fact that he had raised Flea like his own once Gellert and his husband sent him to Hogwarts, the next generation had never ceased being protective of his father. Between knowing about the vampire Director’s struggle to the position during his bachelor years, the discrimination he still faced, and that brief stint as a prisoner of his husband, Albus couldn’t blame Flea. 

Not to mention the Headmaster acknowledged how very badly he’d messed up that scenario. He’d even ignored Orion! Bloody hell, what was wrong with him?

Why couldn’t he just speak and let the other man set the damn pace? Every single time he was in the same room as Percival Graves he swore to breaking the wheel; that he was going to say something to him. It always seemed like his next thought was as the vampire was walking away. 

Gellert’s husband was the strongest magical presence he’d ever encountered, other than, maybe, the Liberator himself. The wizard ran the States like he was the one true king reborn, making every President’s term nominal at best, all because the people begged him not to leave. To top it all off Graves was still forty something and looked gorgeous in his suits, with his hair always slicked back perfect and…

And, as Albus pinched the bridge of his nose, he reminded himself that it didn’t matter, because he wanted nothing to do with his mates romantically. He’d fucked up his family’s lives enough, managed to let his and Gellert’s tale get so twisted already, and there was no way that he was dragging Director Graves into his messes. The man already had a hard enough time with his career and the history of one mate. That’s why he was never going to deage, he’d decided; one lifetime was more than enough.

Opening that first letter, he was confused, then just surprised, when he discovered that the vampire hadn’t seemed to mention their encounter to Gellert at all. He had been telling the blonde idiot for years to just write to the man; his siren best friend confessed years ago that Graves never muted their bond. Gellert thinking that the Director didn’t want him anymore had been ridiculous since James was born, quite frankly. If the vampire wanted to move on from his mates, it was not like he didn’t have options and yet he never dated anyone else.

Reading through the letter, he’d smiled at the overall exuberance that Gellert exuded at his husband re-establishing contact with him. Although that same smile turned slightly devious when he recognized the panic in the siren when his friend pondered what to write back. He hadn’t dared to give feedback on that, but it warmed part of Albus to know that someone could still fluster Gellert Grindelwald. 

But, if the vampire was going to write Gellert anyway, why hadn’t Graves told him what happened? Albus knew that both his and the Director’s magics were linked to Nurmengard’s security, so the man clearly was aware of their communication. He probably didn’t think that Albus cared enough to even bring it up, so he didn’t either. 

The vampire wouldn’t have cause to think anything else, that was for certain. He’d been muted towards Gellert since their last conversation after the fight with Abby and Arianna’s death. He hadn’t even reopened their bond during the twenty minute conversation they’d had when the siren ceased control of the Elder wand. And Albus had muted his connection to Percy when he finally heard that the vampire met up with Gellert first, calling it fate, not even a few years after Godric’s Hollow.

Honestly, though, why Graves hadn’t told Gellert about the lift was a mystery and Albus hadn’t dared to bring it up. Instead they continued talking about how to remove that damn curse and discussed how James’ fourth year was going. His friend had been saying for the last two weeks that Albie should tell his brother off for his temper tantrum. G would be ecstatic to know that Orion had done it for him.

As he was scanning the letter, the new arrival charm alerted him to an incoming student. With the briefest of glances, Albus spotted a flash of blood red hair and chuckled, “It’s only three weeks in and you’re bored already?”

Lily Evans was too advanced for her own good and tended to bounce between himself, Minerva, and Horace for entertainment. Actually, he was genuinely surprised the girl was here since she was supposed to be in potions at the moment. It wasn’t one of her subjects that typically couldn’t hold the girl’s interest.

It wasn’t until a sob reached his ears that Albus abandoned the letter and, startled, gave the fourteen year old his full attention. Fawkes was already on her shoulder, trying to help, as tears poured from the little crimson haired girl’s eyes. Her shoulders were shaking and there was a piece of parchment clutched in her hands.

Standing he rushed over to her, leaning down to wipe the tears away, “Lily, what in the world happened, sweetheart?”

Her hand shook as she extended the parchment to him.

Taking it, Albus’ breath caught.

_ Heritage Potion - September 21, 1974 _

_ Brewer: Lily Jasmine Evans Dumbledore Black _

_ Status: Witch, Pureblood _

_ Father(s): Albus Dumbledore _

_ Carrier: Orion Black _


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3 is ready. I'm thinking I'll throw it up tomorrow, if people are interested in this story.

When he first got the note from Harry about the near teenager blowing up his aunt and him being terrified of an underage magic charge, Percy would own it, he laughed. And Tina laughed. And even Theseus laughed when he flooed across the pond for lunch.

Then he promptly got on a firecall to Fudge and told him what happened. The man offered to check on Harry after the investigation was dismissed and he accepted, because some idiot was hunting occamies in Newt’s preservation and he couldn’t take off for London right that moment. Percy was disappointed when his grandson decided to go back to the Weasleys' instead of coming to him, but Gellert suggested he might think the Hard Charger was mad at him for the situation and recommended giving him a little time.

That tormented the hell out of him. He wasn't supposed to be scary to his grandchild, no matter how much his husband insisted it wasn't personal. How the fuck was he supposed to think something like that wasn't the deepest kind of personal? They were family!

It didn't matter that Harry hadn't been raised around him. Or that they'd only been exchanging letters once a week for a year and a half. Or that he'd been jumpy around Gellert too, until he ran to Nurmengard when the Granger girl was petrified, and he got to know the Liberator in person. All his husband's logic was for not in the face of the idea that he scared his grandbaby and he'd never hated that damn moniker of being the Hard Charger more.

While he didn't like it, that theory held him in place until Newt mentioned to Tina that he'd read an article about the Weasley family winning a contest and their plans to be in Egypt for the next month. He'd gone by the Scamander place, read the article himself, and promptly took the paper to Nurmengard to see what the hell his husband knew. Sirius was on the loose and their grandson was in the god-damned wind; he was as close to a heart attack as a vampire could possibly get.

The siren hadn't known anything at first, but being married to a seer had its perks, just as it did its curses, and soon he was on his way to Room 11 of the Leaky Cauldron to get some answers from the wayward twelve year old. It did strike him as he knocked on the door that the next day was Harry's birthday and he'd at least be able to welcome him into the teen years. That gave him a short moment of excitement.

Only there was no answer.

Of course, he had earned his position with Macusa well and truly, so it was no problem to pull what he could from the innkeep. A smooth lie about the fact that they were supposed to be meeting for lunch, but Harry must have lost track of time, had him heading for either Flourish and Blotts or Gringotts. Apparently that's where the boy was spending his time.

His mind wandered a bit as he got to the bookstore, because Abby never would have fallen for such a line. Percy would sue the establishment for giving out information on his grandson, if they weren't careful. But, mostly he just wondered what his best friend was up to after twelve years of silence between them.

With that location turning up nothing he headed toward the bank. He'd grabbed the Potter lordship ring from Nurmengard when he went by and it was almost humorous to watch the goblins trip all over themselves. A young goblin named Griphook explained as they ventured downward that Harry usually came by in the mornings and he picked the young heir back up at the end of the day; unlike the innkeep, the goblin seemed to realize that he was on thin ice if Percy took exception to Harry's treatment.

It was enough to pull a smile from him and he assured that Harry was free to explore the family vaults' contents as he pleased. He was probably just looking through James and Lily's things, the vampire elaborated. And that was true enough.

He was soothed that his grandson wasn't cavorting around kingdom come with a killer on the loose. Other than being at school or Nurmengard, there wasn't a safer place for him to be. It just clawed at him that Harry hadn't thought he'd be free to look into his parents' things if he came to Percy.

Inside the Potter vault, Harry had finished reading his mother's research and was compiling everything he knew about Voldemort's horcruxes so far. Fawkes had offered to help him and stole the list of what the Headmaster knew from the man's office. So, he now had a list of the what and was currently working on the where for each.

Voldemort's Horcruxes

- Diary

-Gaunt Ring: ancestral home ruins

-Ravenclaw's Diadem: ?

-Hufflepuff Cup: ?

-Slytherin Locket: warded cave

-Nagini: phoenix fire by double agent

_ -Harry _ : horcrux removal potion

The last was written by a shaky hand, but he could put it together well enough. He wouldn't think the news should bother the Headmaster so much, given the tosser ignored him for two years, but Harry was working on a potion to take care of it. While it wasn't quite figured out yet, he'd get there.

The first of the list had a line through it.

And those in the middle were ongoing investigations.

The ring they'd traced to the family's old home. And the locket was inside a cave warded out the wazoo. The cup was still a mystery, but Draco had a theory about the diadem.

They knew the Grey Lady was Helena Ravenclaw. So all they had to do was convince her to help them. He had access to a Ravenclaw in his cousin, Padma, and he wasn't afraid to use the little vampiress to his advantage.

Through a series of charades and bird calls, Fawkes had offered to hunt down the snake, but they needed the others destroyed first. After excavating the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets before his secret parent could, finding the blasted artifacts was the biggest challenge. They also made a pretty penny from selling off the spare parts to help fund this little venture.

Harry knew he could afford it, but not without drawing attention. He'd decided after facing down his first horcrux that this went beyond being petty. If his family in Hogwarts was going to ignore him, then he wasn't just going to get back at them by doing the same, but instead make the most of it and finish what they should have over a decade ago.

The Weasleys boys of the band were in Egypt for the summer and no longer planning a daring escape now that he was away from the Dursleys. Draco was back at Malfoy Manor avoiding the temptation to ask his mother about how the hell his biological father wound up being a mass murdering traitor. And Neville was stuck at the Longbottom estate with his grandmother, though he'd talked about scaling the walls to come join Harry in London.

The girls of the band were also ensconced with their families for the moment. Hermione was relaxing in the muggle world. His cousins, the Patil twins, were visiting the magical city of Agrabah. And Ginny was with her family on the trip, while her friend, Luna, was spending the summer at her grandfather's menagerie in the States.

If he could find locations on the cup and diadem, then it set off to be a productive year. They would all put their heads together to find a way into the Gaunt house, cave, and wherever the last two horcruxes happened to be.

At least, that was the plan.

Then he was sitting in the Potter vaults working on finding the cup. He'd only been doing research for a couple of hours, so he still had a few more to go, when a cart sounded outside. Harry didn't think anything about it at first, because it could have easily been someone accessing a nearby vault.

There was no noise from a door opening, but there wasn't when he came in either, and he didn't freeze until a shadow fell over him. Though goblins were short, they were taller than him when sitting as Harry was, cross-legged on the floor with a ton of work splayed around him. They just weren't tall enough to blockade the only lamp in the space and completely plunge him into shade.

Percy hated not knowing how Harry would react to his presence. The goblin dropped him off and waited outside for him to collect his heir, but part of him worried that Gellert was right. That Harry would rather sit in a vault by himself than face the Hard Charger in a rage.

Still, he couldn't let the boy run around London by himself with their family's own personal Judas on the loose. And he wasn't mad at Harry, so it shouldn't be hard to convince him of that.

Not to mention the fact that he wasn't letting his grandson spend his thirteenth birthday in a bank vault. Little Copper was probably rolling in her grave at the mere thought. Then again, they could have avoided this entire travesty if she'd just given Harry to him and Gellert in the first place.

He tried his best to shake the thought away as the gold door faded and he got his first glimpse of Harry since the boy was a baby. And the shit show the previous summer with Lockheart didn't count. Though he'd never come so close to breaking his contract to eat a bastard for pulling his grandson in front of the cameras like that.

Harry was adorable where he was sitting on the floor scribbling something as Percy approached. From what the vampire could see with his back to him, he was wearing jeans and had slipped into Jimmy's favorite hoodie, which was fair enough because it was damn drafty down here. His hair was a wild and curly mess, just like the Director's own when he didn't use product to tame it, and the lot had grown out by about an inch from where it'd been the previous year in the copy of the Daily Prophet that Newt brought him.

It was clear the moment that Harry realized he wasn't alone, because his back went tense and his head perked up like a rougarou that spotted a niffler. When he twisted about the waist to see who had blocked his light source it was just like looking at Jimmy around this age, his caramel complex warm and bright, making the vampire nostalgic for the times he'd get called into work while the boy was with him in New York and his youngest would demand if he could go too once he turned ten. The big green eyes that blew wide were all Little Copper, eyeing him across Yule dinner and demanding what his deal was with Albus Dumbledore, his other mate and her father.

"Grandpa!"

Gellert's theory blew to hell and back when Harry jumped up to hug him. He'd admit that relief flooded his veins at that moment and he pulled the only son of his only son's only son in close, "Hey, Little Prince! Look at you springing up like a weed!"

"What are you doing here?!"

"Read about the Weasleys' trip to Egypt," He admitted, a hand running over Harry's head, where the boy was still plastered against him and came just to his chest in height, "Realized you were here by yourself. You alright?"

"I'm fine," Harry flushed and pulled away slightly, though he didn't leave his grandfather's reach completely, "I… Umm, well… I can explain!”

“Oh, really,” The exclamation made him laugh, “Because you’d rather be here by yourself, rather than coming to see me? I’ll admit, I’m starting to lean toward offense.”

“No, that’s not…” Harry groaned and scrubbed both hands over his face, “This is all that blimey old codger’s fault!”

It took the vampire a minute, “Grandpa Albus? What? Did he finally take you out of the running for Head Boy after that Whomping Willow incident?”

“There was a house elf involved!” Harry insisted vehemently, before he realized that his grandfather was teasing him when he looked up and the man was grinning, “Oh… Well, see, I started doing this research and it sort of got… outta hand."

"Hmm…" Percy quickly kneeled down to take a look, "Let's see what you've got here."

It all seemed so surreal that his grandfather was here. The Hard Charger was casually perusing his research about horcruxes. Harry didn't know whether to be relieved or run from the vault screaming bloody murder. In lieu of either he just stood there shuffling from one foot to the other, hands finding their way into his pockets of the old worn jeans he'd been wearing while doing research. He was still in Dudley's old oversized blue t-shirt and didn't quite know what to make of the Director of Security, dressed to the nines in a polished suit and his legendary trench coat.

Percy was intrigued, but thought he should start with the obvious, "You know you are twelve, yes?"

"For one more day," Harry muttered.

"Until midnight, I don't want to hear it," Percy held up the list and all the following pages detailing suspected locations and clues, "I get paid handsomely to hunt this sort of thing, so children don't have to worry about it."

"Well that basilisk and Voldie didn't care what age I was, let me tell you."

Blue eyes that Harry swore had the faintest hint of purple shot up to him, "While I agree that shouldn't have happened, I thought Fawkes saved you and you handed everything over to Grandpa Albus?"

"Fawkes did save me," Harry shrugged, then scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, "But, I said I took the bird and book to his office. Not that he had anything in hand."

That pulled a laugh from the older wizard, because Jimmy could always turn a phrase too, after growing up in the Liberator's shadow. The seriousness of the situation came back after a moment and he waved the lot, "Is this why you've been avoiding me all summer?"

Sighing, the incoming third year nodded.

"Alright then," Percy huffed, unable to believe it was that simple.

Not that Harry hunting horcruxes was simple. He didn't mean that. Just that all it took was him just showing up for the boy to get caught red handed. It was a surprise.

"Come on."

"Where are we going?"

"We'll get your stuff and go to Nurmengard," Percy explained, "But first you can explain all of this to me over lunch."

Still in a bit of shock, Harry stumbled out after him. They rode the carts back out of the bank and he explained a little bit when asked about what had happened with the Chamber of Secrets and what he'd been doing in the alley. When they got situated in the Leaky Cauldron he did tell his grandfather about his parents' letters that he’d gotten on the way to Hogwarts explaining their family to him, and all he knew about the dark artifacts Tom Riddle created, including how he got the list. He left out anything about the incident, because there was no reason to ruin an otherwise pleasant meal. And the vampire didn’t seem upset about Marge.

The Hard Charger found it hilarious that the Headmaster's own familiar was enabling a student to effectively break into his office, but he couldn't help wondering, "Why not just tell Grandpa Albus? I'm sure he'd love to have this information."

"That would require him to be Grandpa Albus," Harry muttered into his butterbeer.

"What do you mean?" Dark brows drew together at the odd statement.

They were in their own private bubble amidst the crowded establishment. Hedwig had already been released and all Harry's things were shrunken in the vampire's pocket. Several reporters came to lunch there as well, but one glare from Percy had them minding their own business.

While it was common knowledge that he didn't fresh feed because of his position, he knew plenty of vampires who weren’t so merciful. One phone call and the Prophet would have some positions to fill. It struck him as Harry was explaining that he wasn't in the States anymore anyway. 

So, he could actually eat them himself… After so long it was easy to forget.

"I mean, he's never acknowledged me, or Mum, or anything."

Head tilting, the Director clarified, "Does he speak to you?"

"Sure," Harry shrugged, "Like he does Mione or Neville. But him and Pops both act like we aren't related. They have since I got to school."

Pissed beyond all recognition, he fought to keep the growl out of his voice, "I'll handle that. Why didn't you tell me?"

Harry shrugged again and clearly there was something the seasoned auror was missing. He just didn't know what.

"Harry, you can tell me anything," Percy took a deep breath, "I know how hurtful that can be, son."

"Grandpa?"

"Hmm?"

"Was Sirius Black really Dad's best friend?"

Of all the things his grandson could have asked or said, that was not what the vampire expected. But he'd seen Jimmy's old journal in the pile with Lily's research. And Harry had every right to be curious.

"Yes, he was. He was also my godson. And your godfather."

Emerald pools flew to him surprised, "Really?"

"Yep."

"Then, why did he do it?"

Percy sat back and appraised the ceiling above for a moment, trying to find the words, "He was the mate of Narcissa Black; they were cousins, not that it means anything in the magical community. We're all related somehow."

Harry nodded, because that was one of the first things he'd learned about mating and marriage in the magical community. The rules were vastly different. Mating destroyed most taboos, if any persons were meant to be.

"But, her pureblood nut of a father, Cygnus, and his loon sister, Walburga, fought to keep them apart and wanted to breed the impure siren magic out of them…"

"She was the one married to Grandpa Orion, right?"

"Yes. He was forced into a marriage contract with her by his parents, just like Cygnus did to Cissy with Lucius Malfoy."

"Oh."

"Malfoy only had marital rights with her the one time, but she conceived Draco," Percy sighed, "And Sirius couldn't live with that. He blamed your parents, because they weren't trying for a kid while he was both Head Auror and Jimmy's secret keeper."

Harry sat back and studied him for the longest time. 

He looked so confused that Percy would have grinned at how much his face scrunched up like a bunny resembled Little Copper, if the topic wasn't so serious. Finally he raised his chin and demanded, "What?"

"That makes no sense."

He was surprised by how confident Harry was when he said it, "Why?"

"Because he's Draco's father!" The incoming third year divulged seriously.

"What?"

"We did heritage potions last year," Harry elaborated, "Grandpa, he was terrified when he found out, but his father is Sirius Black."

It felt like his entire brain short circuited for a moment, before Percy leaned over the table, "Are you sure?"

"No, I'm guessing," Harry popped off sarcastically, "We found him disheveled and crying in the bathroom, then the twins had to explain to me who Black was. I'm positive."

Standing quickly he gestured for the boy to follow, "Come on."

"Where are we going?"

"I'm taking you to Nurmengard and getting to the bottom of this travesty."

They used the floo network in the Leaky Cauldron and the next thing Harry knew he was back in Grandpa Gellert's fortress. He hadn't been here since they woke up Hermione and then claimed that he wanted to visit his muggle relatives for the summer. The older seer was waiting for them in the living room of his suite. 

He grabbed hold of Harry and checked him over, fussing over the horcrux in him maddeningly, where Grandpa Percy had kept his cool. Harry huffed and explained his potion, before grabbing the research in his trunk and sharing it with the previous Dark Lord. Then Grandpa Percy took his stuff to Dad's old room while they were talking and he wasn't completely convinced this wasn't a dream.

"Alright," The Director called for their attention as he returned to the room, "I'm going to Hogwarts for some answers. Anything else I need to know before I go?"

Harry just shook his head.

"I summoned Cissy and told her to bring Draco," Grandpa Gel sat back from their review of the potion, the herbologist already having made several suggestions to get the math closer to working, "I'd feel better if they were here, until we know what on the gods’ ground is going on."

"Agreed," Percy got a hug from Harry before instructing, "Stay here with Grandpa Gel. If you think of anything else just tell him; we've got our mating bond open."

The near teenager agreed and he took off for the floo. He decided to hit the Hog's Head first, because if he was going to tell anyone about his suspicions then it was going to be Sirius' dad and his own best friend. Plus, when he went to strangle Albus Dumbledore for ignoring their grandson there was no doubt about his bestie wanting to participate.

It was a Friday evening, but the majority hadn't quite gotten off of work yet with it only being four. The tavern was semi-full with locals trying to beat the dinner and party crowd and Aberforth Dumbledore was behind the bar cleaning up while chatting with patrons interested in doing so. As if they hadn't spent the last twelve years not talking, his best friend's head of long white hair and a mile long grey beard perked up as if he'd sensed Percy’s arrival.

Given that he was a fae and therefore empathic that could have very well been the case. Percy would acknowledge that his emotions were all over the place at the moment.

Walking up to the bar when Orion's mate tilted his head curiously, he bared all while brushing soot off himself the moment they were in earshot, "I think Sirius is innocent, Harry's been wandering Diagon Alley by himself all summer hunting horcruxes, and we may have to kill your brother."

"If you insist," The younger wizard, though he didn't look like it at the moment, declared before whistling for his manager and gesturing to the bar surrounding them.

They were headed out of the Hog's Head almost as quickly as he'd arrived and Percy could admit it felt good to fall in step with Aberforth again. 

His best friend took the lead up to the school and demanded, "What else do you know?"

"Draco is his son and I can't see Sirius trying to line his kid's age up with Jimmy's to betray him…"

"Cissy and Draco?"

His dark head tilted for a moment before his disclosed, "Just flooed into Nurmengard this very moment."

When the Director chuckled, Aberforth just raised a grey brow in his direction.

"Draco raised his chin, Harry said the Hard Charger showed up, and he rolled his eyes saying they were screwed."

"Well, at least they know when they've met their match."

"Yeah… Abby, what happened? When you saw him?"

"Sirius? I never did."

"What?!" The vampire froze right as they were passing through the archway that led onto campus.

"I asked Albus to get me in the same room with him and he couldn't… Lily was his baby. I shouldn't have even…"

"Why didn't you call me?!"

The innkeep startled, then shook his head, "Percy, I couldn't. James called you and the Flaring Fiend his parents. If my own brother wouldn't help me…"

The growl that escaped him was a vicious thing as he turned to stomp up to the castle, "If my godson spent twelve years in Azkaban an innocent man, I'll fucking eat him!"

Hurrying after the Director of Security, the fae plowed on, "What else? How is Harry hunting horcruxes?"

"Got the list of Voldemort's from your brother's familiar after killing that basilisk. Caught him with it when the Scamanders warned me that he wasn't with the Weasleys."

"Bird’s certainly earning his name these days."

Percy scoffed, "Tell me about it. And to top it all off, your idiot brother and Severus have been ignoring him for two years."

"What?!" Abby hurried to get in front of him as they got to the massive doors of the castle entrance, "What do you mean ignoring him?"

"I mean they've treated him like any other student," He growled, "And acted like they aren't even related!"

Confused as he could be, the younger Dumbledore brother still stepped aside and resumed leading them to his brother's office, "But, how did he find out? He sneaks to the Hog's Head once a week and calls me 'grandpa'. He clearly knows."

"James and Lily sent him letters," Percy revealed, "They told him all about the family."

"You're right, we have to kill him."

They walked in silence for a couple of minutes and rode a magical moving staircase up several floors. Just as they were moving onto the stationary landing a new voice joined them drawing the vampire's attention. From the way Abby beamed, the Director could deduce the witch's identity.

"Well, this can't be good."

Abby snorted, "You have no idea." As she got within arms' reach though, he gestured between the two of them after getting a kiss, "Percy, meet Minerva McGonagall. Min, this is Percival Graves."

"A pleasure, my lady," He kissed her hand and enjoyed it when the witch flushed, despite his best friend's eye roll and husband’s flare of jealousy.

"The pleasure is all mine, Director," But her hazel and catlike eyes quickly swung to her friend with benefits, "What's going on?"

"Draco is Sirius', Harry's been hunting horcruxes, and apparently Albus and Severus are ignoring him."

She sighed, a frustrated little sound, even as she turned and waved for them to follow, "Well, the last I knew about. As if the family are the ones he needs protection from after the shit shows that have been the last two years."

"What the fuck are they thinking?" Abby demanded.

"Clearly they aren't," She sighed and let them past the gargoyle, "But your timing couldn't be better. Remus is here interviewing to become the new Defense professor."

"I thought he was meeting with the Minister about security today?"

Percy just listened and bided his time as they ascended the stairs.

"That was this morning. We've got both dementors and aurors stationed on campus."

"That's bound to help the kids' morale," The inn owner noted sarcastically.

“Yes, that is what it is,” She waved a hand in dismissal, “The really exciting news happened when Remus caught a whiff of Andromeda Tonks’ little metamorphmagus.”

Percy was confused, “How so?”

The witch grinned, “Apparently she’s his mate.”

“No?!” The inn owner cried out excited.

“Yep. He tried to avoid her, of course,” The Head of Gryffindor snickered, “But she didn’t seem the sort of lady to be put off.”

They emerged into the office and Percy had to admit that it was quite impressive. It was an oval shape and had portraits and full bookshelves lining every wall. Baubles of light in different colors lit the room like a rainbow, reminding Percy of his husband's garden at night, and charmed muggle contraptions flew around including a train, sailboat, and what looked like a lava lamp of asymmetrical shape. There were also origami animals, both magical and not, enchanted to scurry around the office in an assortment of ways.

He wasn't as interested in the office though, as he was the people inside of it. Twinkling blue eyes lost their cherub like demeanor when Albus looked over from his high backed chair and saw who his deputy was bringing inside. While Remus looked like he wasn't sure whether to rush and hug Percy or duck for cover. Severus didn't really react, other than a brow moving slightly upward, even though the one hand perched on the armrest of his seat next to Remy, across the beautiful wooden desk from the Headmaster, swiped over his goatee.

The werewolf's inquiry was easy enough to answer and Percy beckoned him closer for a hug. When he had the boy pulled in close though, he did demand, "Tell me how he got out. Now."

"They were animagi," It made him feel better when the lycanthrope didn't think himself bold enough to even attempt lying, "James a stag, Sirius a black dog, and Peter a rat."

Percy pulled back, though even Sev's vampire hearing couldn't have caught the whispered disclosure from the werewolf, and hissed, "And the last wasn't a warning for all three of you?"

Remus looked confused, but he only waved the thirty-three year old back to his seat. He'd put it together before the end of this.

"When you screw the pooch," McGonagall noted as she glided over to the window seat, "You really do go all the way, Albus."

Abby snorted and followed her over to perch on the cushion next to the witch.

That earned a glare from the Headmaster and he sat back as both his forefinger and thumb went to massage his temple, "I'm sure you're right, but either of you care to set the stage a bit?"

"Allow me," Percy growled, cutting everyone off and stalking toward the desk, "First you ship my goddamn grandson off to the muggle world without such much as a by your fucking leave. Then you let your nephew sit in a jail cell an innocent man, because I'll stake my fucking career on that by this point!"

Blue eyes blew wide at the assertion.

"And now I find out that Harry is hunting horcruxes behind your fucking backs," He turned to glare at Sev too and the usually stoic and unflappable vampre flinched at the rage there, before he turned back to his wayward mate with a growl, "Because you pieces of shit have been ignoring him for two god-damned years, despite the fact that he's known who you were since he mother fucking got here!"

"How…?"

The question was barely a muttered whisper where the Headmaster was backed into his chair by the Director's looming, but he damn well knew what the fae was asking, "Jimmy and Little Copper sent him letters."

Both men looked absolutely stricken, he'd give them that.

Remus broke in as they were both processing, "Do you really think… How?"

"Draco is Sirius' son. He and Harry figured it out when…"

"They brewed heritage potions," Sev cut him off by filling it in, his hand shooting up to pinch the bridge of his nose.

"That's right," Percy allowed sarcastically in his nephew's direction, "And now you've got him skating the family so much that he didn't even want to come to me and Gellert after blowing up his muggle aunt while visiting!"

Albus flinched, but he was also confused, "Visiting?"

He and Minerva shared a confused look, but when the vampire only glared at him for daring to open his mouth, Albus' deputy took over, "He wasn't visiting them. That's his home, where he went after…"

She didn't need to finish the statement, Percy put it together and perked up. Obviously he was missing something there and he deployed his husband to find out, as Cissy was getting Draco situated in Nurmengard, though he promised to be back shortly, "Great, another secret he's keeping for unknown reasons!"

Severus finally spoke up where his gaze had been dodging between the Transfiguration professor and Headmaster, "Please, Frigg on high, tell me you don't mean Petunia."

Albus rolled his eyes, "She was Lily's sister, Sev. I know you lot were weird about including the Evans as family, but…"

"She was abusive," He cut in and Percy turned toward the younger vampire. It registered due to his tone that the thirty-three year old would have probably been faint, if that was something their species was capable of after coming into the inheritance at twenty-five, "She tormented Lily. You can't have left Harry with that harpy from hell!"

The two stared at one another with wide and worried eyes, but the Director couldn't take any more horrible revelations in one day. If those bastards had put their hands on Harry, he would tear them apart. All he wanted was to get back to Nurmengard, where Gellert was trying to find out more about the glamour Harry wore all the time.

"And now, you morons are going to give me a copy of that heritage potion for Cissy and stay out of my fucking way while I clean up this mess," Percy snarled, "Before we have a real goddamn catastrophe on our hands."

Silently the witch of the group got up and found the results in Albus' filing system. Once it was handed over he turned to leave, but Abby wasn't sure if he should follow or not, so he inquired.

"I'll send you a patronus once I have Sirius."

The wall slammed shut downstairs in deference to the vampire's rage and they were all left there in shock. Remus was tempted to follow, but he knew his uncle was in no mood to be trifled with and fought the urge. That seemed to be the overwhelming sense that everyone had at the moment, a moment when all they wanted to do was act.

"Personally," Minerva finally noted from where she'd returned to lean on the wall by the window and could see the vampire storming from campus, "I've never been so equally terrified and turned on by the same person."

Abby snorted, "That's Percy for you." He turned to his brother and sighed, "I want to deage."

Albus startled at the change in topic, but realized it wasn't that surprising. His brother had always said that Graves was his best friend, but he'd never believed it completely until just now, after he'd actually seen the vampire calm from his blinding rage when talking to the absolute goat. He nodded and they did it together, abiding by the deal their pair had made back in school, before he graduated and well before Ariana or their mother's death.

He didn't really care that he was forty again, or that his robes had been changed into a three piece suit, or that his hair was scarlet and short all the way around once more, "Where's Harry?"

"Hel’s Hall."

"We have to go check on him," Minerva insisted.

"I doubt Gellert would even let us in at this point," Albus confessed.

"So we just sit here?!" She demanded.

"Why not?" The Potions Master muttered, "We did it this long."

He got up and moved from the room in a billow of robes without another word. No one was surprised when the lioness couldn't stand it and went after him. Aberforth couldn't be here without Percy and quickly left to go wait for news of his son in his loft over the Hog’s Head. And Remus followed him needing to know.

Percy got outside the warding and got a portkey back to Nurmengard from the post office in Hogsmeade. When he got back Gellert had Harry sequestered in the garden and he just sent the test results up to Cissy in the form of a flying paper bird before joining them at his husband's monstrosity of a swing. Harry wasn't baring all willingly.

"... oesn't even matter, Grandpa."

"Like Hel it doesn't," Despite the turn of phrase, Gel was gentle as he said it, "If they hurt you, it certainly does matter."

"I got mind healing done in the alley! I'm fine."

Percy sighed, taking a seat in the cast iron chair next to the swinging bed, "While that was smart, son, we still need to know why you needed it in the first place."

A slender hand ran through his grandson's dark and unruly hair as Gellert continued, his other arm pulling Harry against him, "Darling, we just want to make all the wrongs you've suffered right. You and Draco both."

"And probably Sirius too," The vampire put in.

Green eyes turned to appraise him just as they had in the Leaky Cauldron before he revealed Draco's parentage, "Do you really think he's innocent?"

"Yes, but I'd very much like to find out for sure," Percy admitted, "We just have to settle this first."

His grandson scrubbed both hands over his face, "I just don't want everyone to look at me differently."

"We won't…"

He hissed, "Everyone always says that, but they're wrong. Even Draco didn't want to share his problems with me once he knew, because it was like he thought he was just complaining for the hell of it."

That pulled a hum from the Director as he considered that perspective, "You will still be the same genius, resourceful, and tough kid you are right now. It may take us a minute to process the depths of what you've endured, but nothing will change that."

Harry seemed to study him for a moment. Like he wasn't quite sure if Percy really believed what he was saying, or if the oldest among them was just blowing smoke up his ass. In light of the scrutiny the vampire continued.

"You will still be the kid who was going to destroy seven horcruxes by himself, rather than letting a bunch of adults keep fucking the process up," When that got a grin from Harry, he returned the gesture with a shrug, "And what's worse is I'd stake my entire career on you being able to pull it off."

Flushing, Harry finally nodded and slipped out of his dad's hoodie. He went ahead and removed the glamour while doing it and then just pulled his blue t-shirt up to reveal the scars Vernon Dursleys had carved into him. His grandparents didn't react well, one gasping and the other growling, but they didn't rush off to commit murder and that was a relief given Grandpa Gel's history.

The siren pulled Harry into a hug and he went willingly. After a moment Grandpa Percy pulled him in too, the Director joining them on the swing. He promised Harry wasn't going to see the Dursleys ever again and asked a few questions about who did the damage.

Once the topic hedged toward a blessed close, Harry asked about what he wanted to know, "What did you find out about Dray's father?"

Percy sighed, "He used an illegal animagus form to escape prison. A black dog."

The near teenager perked up, "A black dog?"

"Mmhmm," He confirmed, "Turns out your dad could do it too. He could turn into a stag and Pettigrew a rat."

Harry's head tilted, "That didn't tip anyone off?"

Both men busted out laughing and Percy hauled him back in under one arm, "Damn near the exact words out of my mouth!"

Despite the fact that it made the near teenager smile, he quickly regained his seriousness, "A black dog found me after I blew up Marge."

Perking up, the dark wizard raised a darker brow in his direction, "Did it?"

Harry nodded, "He rode the Knight Bus with me to Diagon Alley and I fed him breakfast and dinner. He always walked me from the Leaky Cauldron to Gringotts or the bookstore every morning and back."

"What time did you usually leave the bank?" Percy demanded.

"Sixish."

Checking his watch the vampire was tickled pink when it was twenty til and kissed Harry's crown before taking off for the alley again. As he tore out he heard Gellert start ushering their grandson back inside to get dinner and the boy went willingly enough. While he couldn't believe what those no-maj bastards had done to him, he'd deal with them once he had Sirius and these fucking horcruxes reckoned.

Landing outside the Leaky Cauldron he just used the brick entrance and fought the work crowd to head for Gringotts. He'd debated wearing a glamour, but there wasn't much Sirius could do in his animagus form, even if he did spot the Hard Charger coming. And he didn't know that Percy knew.

Despite the crowded street of the alley, it wasn't difficult to spot the large black dog laying at the bottom of the stairs leading to the magical bank, staring up at the white building that shone in the descending sun, and clearly waiting on Harry to emerge. It only struck him at that moment that Jimmy had learned to do it too and he realized that Tina had probably known; that's why they'd laughed every time the boy had been referred to as the Stag Charger. 

Couple of assholes, both of them.

Sirius didn't look too bad for twelve years in Azkaban. Still a little thin, he'd probably been putting on weight with Harry feeding him regularly, and he'd already been a powerful occlumens, but Percy would guess that he'd cheated and leeched off the mind healing that the twelve year old completed. His coat was a bit shaggy from prison and then life in the streets, but that could be fixed up with a bath and a shave.

The thirty-three year old's form was no shock. While he had a love hate relationship with the Black family naming tradition because of Walburga, he'd always swung more toward love because it connected him more to his father. He'd never say it out loud, but his name connected him to Orion and he liked that. Gave new meaning to why Jimmy always said he was a good boy and pet him like a jackass though.

"He's not in there, kid," Percy told him as soon as he came up behind the canine, "I came and got him earlier."

Every muscle in the animagus' body went tense, both his ears and tail shooting upward in surprise, but he didn't try to run. Though it was slow and apprehensive, the dog took in a deep breath and rose up on all four legs, then turned to look up at him, steel gray not seeming to know where to focus once he'd done so. He took a step back, but froze when he hit the stairs.

And Percy sighed, before going down on a knee and reaching for his godson, "Come here, kid. It's alright."

The big old cross between a grim and wolf studied him for a moment, before he slowly moved in closer and let the Hard Charger scratch behind his ears. He offered what explanation he could in public, "We just found out the results of your son's heritage potion. Didn't much think you'd be trying to match old horns for brains kid for kid to betray him."

That got him a whine and a big paw came up to swipe at his chest in question.

Percy chuckled, "Remy told me about the animagus forms. And Harry told me about you following him around."

He sat back on his haunches and his head tilted in the vampire's direction with a small bark.

"You're coming back to Nurmengard with me," He explained, "I need you all safe in one place. Come on."

The animagus didn't bother to resist the older man and heeled right by his leg as they left Diagon Alley. They got back into muggle london and the crowds protected them just as they had in front of the bank. He got them back into a deserted alley and pulled the divination token of a raven he'd charmed into a portkey out of his pocket.

Sirius transformed back and didn't seem to know what to do with himself now that they were back in person. With a huff, Percy just gestured with the token and got him to grab hold, before they were sent spiraling through a rainbow to land back outside his husband's fortress. He turned to open the gate, but it seemed that once he crossed into the garden behind the Hard Charger, Sirius found his voice.

"I know where Peter is," He rushed out saying it, stopping just beyond the gate and rambling, "I'd know that bastard anywhere. He's been hiding out as one of the Weasley kids' pet. Fudge gave me a copy of the paper and I saw him and… But, I had to see Harry first. I tried to snoop around Malfoy Manor too, but I could never get in. Then he took off on the Knight Bus and I didn't know why he was there by himself and I couldn’t just leave him. And…"

"Hey, Siri, breathe," Percy instructed, pulling the fugitive in as close as he could.

His tattered robes were bare and torn to hell, but they'd fix that soon enough. He'd put on some bulk in prison and gotten more tattoos. The vampire couldn't feign shock, perfectly able to imagine his godson, who’d never been able to sit still a day in his life, trying to fill the hours in that hell hole when he wasn’t hiding out in his animagus form.

The show of affection was what finally broke through some of his panic and Sirius just had to cry it out in the Hard Charger’s arms. When the sobs subsided Percy apologized for not being there, explaining that he hadn’t been in contact with Aberforth for a decade plus two before that day, and how many regrets he had about that. The younger animagus was more offended that they hadn’t been in contact, exclaiming that his father had left the goat to the Director of Security in his will.

His first joke out of prison, though he was also very serious, pun intended, had Percy rolling his eyes and ushering him inside. They went to one of the unused rooms on the lower levels and let him clean up there, because even twelve years in Azkaban couldn’t kill the Black vanity. Not when Sirius was going to be seeing his son for the first time since infancy.

Gellert brought him down a change of clothes, just sweats and a tank, while the siren’s husband was on a firecall with Theseus. Luckily Kingsley Shacklebolt’s brother was the Head Auror for the Egyptian Ministry of Magic and Lord Commander Scamander agreed to go with him to arrest Peter Pettigrew as soon as Percy explained to his mentee what in the name of Mother Dixie was going on. Once the rat bastard was arrested, the older Scamander brother promised to see if he knew the location of the cup and diadem, as well as lead his team to the Gaunt house ruins, the cave, and put in for the permit to use Fawkes the phoenix’s fire to hunt Nagini.

Overall it was shaping up to be a long night and Percy updated Tina when he ended the firecall, before sending a patronus for Abby. Despite his best friend’s claims that he’d never set foot in Nurmengard, the chance to see his son was too tempting, and he showed up with the brat’s best friend right after they’d gotten him shaved and dressed. The vampire sent his husband back upstairs, not wanting him and Aberforth to snark at one another during what should be a heartfelt reunion.

Which it was. Full of tears and embraces and over a decade of regrets; the three of them were certainly a sight to be seen. Percy hated what had become of their family, because Lily hadn’t wanted to give Harry to anyone in the older generation. This really could have been avoided.

When they finally got through that reunion, Cissy came down next, and she had a tearful reunion with her mate as well. Everyone cleared out to give the pair some time alone and Percy went to check on the kids. They’d settled enough to work on homework in the living area of the suite and were excited to meet their new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

Remus decided to get to know both Harry and Draco better, so he helped them with school work as a vessel. And Gellert told Percy everything he’d found out about the Dursleys’ abusive tendencies, though apparently it was all mostly the husband. Other than the two horcruxes in the wind, the one inside Harry was the other big uncountered variable in the equation and they talked about that for a while.

By eight o’clock Sirius had come up to meet the boys and Theseus sent a patronus alerting everyone that they had Pettigrew, who’d confessed under veritaserum. Cheers rang out throughout the suite, especially when they had locations on Hufflepuff’s cup and Ravenclaw’s diadem. Cissy sent a letter of permission with Percy, as well as the Lestrange vault key, to get the cup and he took Harry’s research for his horcrux removal potion with him.

When he went by Hogwarts after finding the golden cup with adjacent ‘H’s’ and badgers, the first thing he did was drop off the research with Minerva and his son in law, before updating them. He explained that he also had to find the diadem in something called the ‘Room of Requirement’ and the witch led him there, then she even helped him search for the damn thing. That took a while as, no surprise, a millennium worth of students had a lot of shit that they didn't particularly want anyone to find.

By the time both of those were in his pocket and set for destruction, he couldn’t resist asking anymore, “Where is he?”

“Astronomy tower,” She confessed.

Theseus had the ring and sent him the signed permit for Fawkes to hunt down Nagini, so he went searching for the Headmaster even though McGonagall just took off for Nurmengard. He’d been as angry as the witch earlier, but as the hours passed one by one, Percy had started realizing that this could have all been done over a decade ago, if he’d gotten off his ass and come back across the pond for more than to sleep with his husband in Nurmengard. He’d left his fae mate, even if Albus didn’t want to acknowledge him, to deal with the fall out of James and Lily’s death, because he’d been too busy licking his wounds after Severus wouldn't back him in a custody battle over Harry.

What right did he have to judge the Headmaster for making some bad decisions, when he hadn’t participated if he couldn’t have his way?

He searched for a while, but just wound up hopelessly lost in the unfamiliar castle. Frustrated, he finally just knocked on the mating bond that Albus had closed between them in the wake of his sister’s death just like he would have a door. After ninety-four years of the fae never opening the bond, he jumped a little when it finally flooded. After a moment to shake himself, he was able to follow the pull to what had to be the absolutely tallest tower of the entire place.

Even when he got to the top of the stairs, Percy found a rope ladder and open hatch in the ceiling, which he climbed up to get out on the roof, “The kids are actually allowed up here? I’m surprised someone hasn’t blown off!”

Albus scoffed, but had to acknowledge that the wind was ridiculous today, even if it seemed pretty fitting for his mood when he first climbed up, “No, they stay downstairs. Only staff can get out here.”

“Yeah, right,” He didn’t believe that for a moment and would put money on Jimmy coming out here at least once. Probably more often.

Still, he took a seat next to the Headmaster and Fawkes on the roof, handing over the permit and letting the younger wizard read over it. He knew that they’d deaged thanks to seeing Abby in Nurmengard, but he wasn’t expecting to find the redhead so damn attractive. A fun fact which Gellert found hilarious across their mating bond, even as he sat with the kids in Nurmengard watching a dinosaur movie on one of Percy’s reflector screens.

“Fawkes,” Albus finally stopped reading and held up the permit, “Any chance you’re finally willing to break out your party trick and hunt her down.”

The phoenix shrieked at him and then bounced around so that his back was to the mated pair. Percy was confused. He knew the two had a bond that enabled them to communicate, similar to what he could do with Gellert, and Albus now that the Elder Wand Conqueror wasn’t blocking him, but he couldn’t hear that. He only got the part of the conversation the fae said out loud.

“Come now, you’ve been saying that for twelve years,” He held up the Elder Wand, “I have not lost my hallow and I need your help!”

His beak only rose higher in the air and he didn’t turn to look at them.

“What is happening?”

Albus sighed, letting the wand disappear back into the tattoo on his left arm that Percy knew was there only because his husband had told him. He had to admit that the man looked much better in a suit than bejewelled robes, even as he rubbed his hands roughly across his face, “He’s said for years that I’ve lost my hallow and he’s not using phoenix fire until I get it back. Whatever the bloody bollocking hell that means!”

Percy hummed and studied him, where the wizard wrapped his arms around his knees, which were pulled tight against his chest, while his chin rested upon them, “And you said it’s been twelve years?”

“Yes,” His tone made it clear that this was an age old argument between him and his familiar.

Fawkes set the vampire with a look before flying over to land on his thigh and Percy got the distinct impression that he was expected to help the Headmaster put it together. When he didn’t answer fast enough a taloned foot squeezed his leg and he hissed, figuring that was the only warning he was going to get, “Well… Those with the wand hallow are known to shield others when they aren't corrupted by a lust for power.”

Blue eyes swung to him confused, “And?”

“And you gave Harry up instead of shielding him,” Though the scarlet wizard flinched, he really hadn’t said it to be a jackass. He could see where Fawkes was coming from though, “Even when Harry came back you’ve been avoiding him. I think he wants the two of you to talk.”

“He doesn’t need to be anywhere near me,” Albus said it with such vehemence that Percy knew he’d really messed his mate up with his earlier reaction, “In fact, if you want him transferred to Ilvermorny…”

“Stop, stop,” Percy grabbed his hand and wasn’t surprised when that made the ginger jump, but he plowed on without looking away, “I shouldn’t have gone off on you the way I did. You were trying to protect him by yourself, when the rest of us should have been here for you.”

“I left him to abusive monsters…”

“You had no idea, Copper Top,” Percy sighed in frustration, “There was no way for you to know, because Lily didn’t tell you.”

“I didn’t know you wanted him. I had no idea,” Albus insisted, “She just wanted you and Gellert to get to be grandparents so much, because you wound up raising James for Flea and Euphemia.”

“I know. She was a good kid,” He laughed, running his thumb along the fae’s knuckles, “Too stubborn for her own good, but smart as a whip.”

Blue eyes regained a little of their twinkle and they dropped down to Fawkes, “Alright, if I go talk to Harry, will you hunt her down?”

With a pleasant call the phoenix took off and they climbed down from the tower quickly. They checked in with Severus before they left Hogwarts and the Potions Master was fascinated by how well Harry had done with the horcrux removal potion. Apparently the inbound third year had all of the puzzle pieces there, he just hadn’t finished putting them into place, though the experienced potioneer had been able to do it with ease.

He was clearly bothered by how much he’d ostracized Harry, both from the art and himself, so Percy made him come along to Nurmengard. They needed to get everyone on the same page with that kid and might as well do it before he went to bed. He’d destroy the other horcruxes while they talked to the teenager; given what he’d heard so far about Sev’s antagonistic relationship with Harry, he thought he had the easier task.

On their way off campus he got a summons from Theseus to the cliffside where the cave was and all three of them wound up going. Apparently there was a spirit there that they believed could give them information on the horcrux inside. None of them could believe it when it wound up being Regulus Black and the seventeen year old apparition told them the horcrux wasn’t there, but in Grimmauld Place.

Abby met them at the Black ancestral home, as he was the active lord for the family since Orion’s death and Sirius’ imprisonment, though they’d get Percy’s godson reinstated as soon as his innocence was declared the next morning. The vampire couldn’t wait to see what sort of reparation deal the boy made the Ministry of Magic swallow after twelve years of false imprisonment without a trial. It would be vicious and he’d enjoy every moment of it.

Orion’s spirit met them outside of the residence and he endured a mouthful from his mate, before he returned fire about the absolute goat not speaking to Percy for over a decade. Once they had it out though, the two looked more in love than ever, and it took less than ten minutes to get in and get the locket from a house elf named Kreature. With the locket, cup, and diadem in hand they were finally able to make for Nurmengard.

Theseus snatched the trio from Percy, pissed off that he’d only found the ring, while the Director wound up getting the other three, but the vampire just chuckled. It wasn’t a competition, he reminded the first kid he’d ever unofficially adopted during World War I, though the boy disagreed passionately. He ruffled his hair as they made it through the garden.

They certainly came upon a cozy scene in the living area of Gellert’s suite. Apparently his husband had contacted his aunt, Bathilda Bagshot, at some point with an update and she wound up coming over with her best friend, Augusta Longbottom, and the witch’s grandson, Neville. The sandy blonde was in a bean bag chair off to one side of Harry before the reflector screen, while Draco was off to the other, though Percy was sure the seats had been transfigured because his husband didn’t own anything like them. The older witches were at a side table housing Gellert’s crystal ball and Sirius was snuggled with Cissy on a couch off to the side. Remus was in a recliner near their heads and Gellert was on a sofa behind the boys by himself. Theseus’ wife and brother had shown up at some point, probably when Tina got off work and couldn’t take it anymore, and they were on one loveseat, while Abby and McGonagall were on the other.

Severus took the recliner next to Remus and, as Sister Act came to a close, Percy asked Harry to get him the basilisk fangs that he’d mentioned excavating earlier. All three boys ran from the room and he had Theseus lay out all the horcruxes on the larger table nearer the kitchen, before the Commander of Special Operations moved to update all the adults, “Pettigrew admitted that his soul is anchored by these and that he’d probably run back to Albania after losing Quirrell as a vessel. The diary was destroyed, soon these four, and Nagini. After that it’s just…”

He didn’t say it and no one wanted him to.

“How long does that potion take to brew, Severus?”

“Normally, a year,” The Potions Master sighed, “Because it requires a blue lotus soaked in moon beams for a full year as the last ingredient. I have a way around it though.”

Remus perked up, “That’s one of the ingredients for wolfsbane.”

“I’ve got twelve of them,” He nodded, “So, I’ll have it done by tomorrow evening. I’ll just have to start more, for the last month of school for you.”

“Might not even be necessary,” Gellert broke in. Everyone looked at him curious as he slid a piece of parchment over to Severus, “Harry took exception to the treatment of werewolves and started playing with the recipe. If this works, it’ll grant coherency for a year at a time.”

“And keep the gene from being passed on,” Sirius disclosed.

Remus rolled his eyes and the two dissolved into a shoving match until Cissy separated them, “Children, the both of you!”

“Hallelujah,” Percy noted of the news as Severus studied the altered potion, before his attention returned to Theseus, “When are you taking the team to Albania?”

“We’re going in the morning to trap him in an enchanted urn,” The Commander explained, appraising Percy, “We can’t exorcize him until Harry’s safe, but we were still hoping to have a specialist in the field with us just in case.”

“I’ll be there,” The vampire promised, “I have to drop this one off for reparation negotiations anyway.”

Sirius grinned, an absolutely smug sight, “Fudge will be crying by the time I’m done with him.”

Cissy patted the hand she was holding, “No doubts, darling.”

Gellert smiled at the pair, “Cissy’s Declaration of Divorce has been sent in and we’ll file to change Draco’s birth certificate as soon as the morning edition breaks.”

“When I get back from Albania,” Percy noted to Sirius, “We’ll go by Gringotts and get everything settled there.”

The sound of the boys filing down from the bedrooms upstairs ended their discussion quickly. Gellert, Cissy, and Minerva wound up corralling the boys back at the sofas while the rest destroyed the horcruxes, but there was no pulling three teenagers, or near teenagers in two of the cases, attentions away from such a rare sight at ten o’clock at night. Newt had gloves that enabled them to work safely with the basilisk fangs and at the end of it all there were simply four destroyed artifacts left for Theseus to collect and drop by the Ministry of Magic as evidence.

The Scamander triad moved out quickly and Aberforth decided to follow them with his not-girlfriend, since he had been in Hel's Hall too long already according to the innkeep. Percy laughed and then Neville decided that he wanted to stay with Harry, especially after finding out that his new DADA professor was his godfather, and with Severus’ proclamation that the new wolfsbane would work his grandmother couldn’t object. 

So, she left with Tanté Hilda. Though talks needed to be had, neither Albus nor Severus were willing to force the issue with Harry, not when he was so excited to watch something called Hocus Pocus with his friends. Percy told him to set it up and didn't call him on giving the two the cold shoulder.

Fair play was fair.

For the moment.

So, Severus and Remus were back in their recliners when Percy pulled Albus over to Gellert’s sofa to join them there. It was only as they finally released each other’s hands to shed suit jackets and vests to get comfortable that he realized they’d been holding hands since the tower. The fae seemed to realize it as well, though all they managed post epiphany was to stare at one another.

A certain siren laughing at them across their bonds made both roll their eyes, before they quickly settled to snuggle with the brat. Percy had started thinking this was never going to happen, because after fifty years it just seemed pointless to have hope, but he had to admit to staring at his younger mates more than watching the movie. They complained about magical inaccuracies along with the teenagers though and didn’t much notice.

Sev’s onyx eyes were glued to the back of his son’s head the entire time.

While the remaining Marauders joined in with the teenagers in making commentary, Cissy kept glancing toward her best friend, and Percy was watching all of them. Harry didn’t so much as look back once and he got the sense that was intentional as it could be. He was pissed off and had that Peverell temper.

Well, that wasn't fair, as he got it from Lily. But no one would ever tell him that the previous Lady Potter wasn't a firecracker. Harry was fine to ignore them for a night.

Harsh, but understandable.

When the movie finally came to a close the boys were all jittery and Gellert gave them all a dose of Dreamless Sleep, before he and Cissy ushered them to bed before they passed out. Harry hugged Percy and Gellert, then turned on his heels and marched up the stairs leaving no doubt about who was in the dog house. The witch looked like she wanted to mediate but Sirius stopped her.

"We can't just let him stay mad," She insisted, even as she was pulled up the stairs.

"Put him through the works for twelve years," The animagus reminded as he pulled her upward and onward, "They'll survive a night in tosser-ville."

"Sucks to be them," Remus agreed and quipped as he followed the pair, "It's what Lils would have done."

Gellert patted Sev's shoulder and took him to a guest room opposite the old Marauder suite where the rest were staying, while Albus' hand flew to his heart as Percy pulled the fae upstairs once they were gone, "I feel like he just reached into my chest and flicked my beating heart."

"I won't lie to you," The vampire had to chuckle, "I'm pretty sure that was the intent."

Gellert was already in their bedroom changing into pajamas and Percy would acknowledge that he got a little distracted by his husband in only silver shimmering silk pants. The siren had thrown an old scarlet and gold pair from the Wampus’ Ilvermorny days on the bed for Albus, because though the Headmaster was more slender and a couple inches shorter than him, Percy's would still fit better than the 5'10 seer's. He wasn't much paying attention to the fae after latching onto his husband's neck, determined to suck a hickey right at his pulse point.

"Percy!" Gellert tried to scold, but it was killed by the laugh he couldn't halt, "At least change first. Percy!"

He managed to squirm away from the hulk he'd married back back in 1900, but the vampire growled his displeasure at the accomplishment even as he turned to change. Gellert wasn't even surprised! He'd gotten his hands on Harry, reckoned every horcrux that wasn't in said grandchild or being hunted by a phoenix, and managed to have a conversation with Albus all in one afternoon. There was enough adrenaline coursing through his veins to fuel a rocket and he was just looking to unload on somebody.

The Liberator shook his head and took a seat on the bed beside his best friend, grabbing the hand that wasn't currently fiddling with the spare pajama pants, and glancing up to study his face, "You okay, Albie?"

He scoffed and tossed the pants back on the bed before pulling away and gesturing with a broad wave, "He's right. It's what Lily would have done." The fae landed with one shoulder on the wall and stared out their bedroom window overlooking the garden, "This is all what she would have done."

"Honey…" Gellert sighed, no idea what to say for a moment before he went with, "He'll be over it by morning."

The Elder Wand Conqueror laughed, "She was supposed to be over me using Sev as a spy and I just found out she'd been deploying her baby brother in the role as revenge!" He hissed before continuing, "She was supposed to tell me all about the Evans, if I was going to send Harry there, and I just found out about Petunia today!"

Dropping into the window seat his head fell into his hands and he reminded, "I ignored him for two years! That doesn't just go away!"

"No, but he had more information on those horcruxes then you'd found in a decade," Percy's voice pulled him to look up, "He outsmarted you, Copper Top. That's all he wanted to do and did it. Now he's just being petty, because I threw a competency wrench into the works."

Albus was opening his mouth to respond, but froze when his eyes actually took in the Director and it made him halt like most did when they saw Fawkes for the first time. His mate was six five, but he'd known that earlier, because Percy was a couple inches taller than him and always managed to be intimidating without trying at Crisis Response Conferences. Now he was wearing nothing but a pair of sweats and leaning in the doorway of what had to be the bathroom.

Gellert had tried to tempt him into reopening his mating bonds with vivid descriptions of the vampire's physique and physical prowess since the married couple reconciled in '74, but the tosser had never mentioned that Percy had tattoos. 

The largest was an American Turul, a large magical aviary associated with death which controlled storms and minds that looked like a pitch black eagle bursting into black flames as it batted it's wings, though the one in the depiction had a blue gaze tinted by lavender and had what Albus could only describe as a vulture like look to the eyes where its head centered over Percy's heart, its wings spanning over his broad shoulders. It was all outlined by a mist like fog to break up the black. The words written below were in bold script and originated with the Graves family, but were also taken over my house Potter when Percy's parents married. 

Mors Nec Pacisci. Neque Nos. 

The latin was perhaps more of a threat grammatically, then he and Gellert had read into the english translation as teenage hopeless romantics on the lochside of Godric's Hollow. Especially when he'd grown up with the fairy tale version of the three brothers that was moralled to greet death as an old friend, but more importantly live. 

Deaths Does Not Negotiate. Nor Do We.

Albus got the distinct impression that the words in latin were layered below on his eight pack, which the fae would also like to note he thought were a myth of physicality, because the vampire couldn't put them above without the words showing when he was in a suit. It wasn't all that long ago when he wouldn't have been able to get a job with them showing. A tragic but true fact of history, the new take on the family motto was still plenty imposing from its place in latin creating a downward arch below the depiction.

He also had two band's around his biceps that were clearly from World War I, as Albus had seen Theseus' own that matched the one on Percy's left arm, and they'd been common markers for magical soldiers during that time. Silver ancient runes created the thick band that led to a rather feminine depiction, given that it was a war time brand, but the fan created from a rainbow of feathers from different magical aviaries was still lovely. And on his right arm black lightning created the band, which led to a thunderbird sparking with silvery blue electricity.

On the underside of his right forearm was a deathly hallows symbol in basic black with 'For the Greater Good' written below it in Gellert's handwriting. It looked remarkably like the marriage totem that Albus had with the siren on his right arm as well, except Percy had his wand drawn overtop of the original totem's center in the form of a wand tattoo. Realizing that Gellert had marked them both in the same place wasn't nearly as shocking as it should have been, but it did somehow make him feel less responsible for Tom's creation of the Dark Mark after he saw Albus' while in school.

The final tattoo was a pyramid that was often seen around Macusa, with the all seeing eye in the middle, and the order to 'Always Stay Vigilant' written around all three visible sides of the main face. It reminded Albus that Alastor Moody first apprenticed for Percy in the States. Only this pyramid also had a lion's tail trailing out from the pyramid's backside and a set of deer antlers coming out of the top on either side of the main face.

He gave the vampire a long look before deciding, "I'm going to need you to put on a shirt. And maybe a sweater… And probably a jacket."

Gellert busted out laughing and fell back on the bed.

While Percy grinned and looked down. Where he was a vampire and didn't flush, it took the fae a moment longer than it should have to place the look on his face as positively boyish. He had to admit that it was adorable as hell.

“You could have been playing with him for years,” Gellert reminded.

The Director scoffed, “I suppose eventually I’ve going to have to ask about that. It’s been a busy afternoon.”

Scoffing, Albus got up so that he could change into the pajama bottoms and offered, “I made a deal not to speak to you unless Gellert was there too. When Flea showed up to Hogwarts at eleven he thought that I was Yoko coming to break up the band.”

“Yoko coming to…” Gellert trailed off as he realized what Albus meant and promptly grabbed a pillow to try and smother himself with it.

Percy snorted and looked a bit delighted, “You’re kidding?!”

“Not in the slightest,” The Headmaster laughed, “I got a chance when Gellert was arrested in ‘45, but it wasn’t the right time.”

“Bullshit!” The siren declared, taking his pillow to throw at his husband, “Better you than a floozie from Macusa.”

Though the vampire snatched it from the air, he also hissed as he flopped on the bed with G, "Fair enough, baby boy."

Albus appraised him, surprised. Their mate had a jealous streak a mile wide and could hold a grudge, "You had an affair?"

"Yep," Percy had spent decades wanting to hurl everytime someone mentioned it, mostly because he'd been separated from his husband after the fact and it had killed him. They'd been back together for almost twenty years now, so he'd come to just acknowledge it and move on, "Theseus broke me out of spousal kidnapping the day of the Veronan Verdict, you two dueled the next day for the elder wand, and when the warding went up here that Sunday, I shacked up with a bimbo from Macusa."

"With his mating bond wide open," Gellert put in, even if he also pulled the vampire in to steal a kiss, "She's dead now, I'm happy to say."

"Gellert!"

"What?! Not like I had anything to do with it!"

Albus couldn't help it, he busted out laughing. That was such a genuine reaction from his best friend that, even when it shouldn't, it made him feel lighter for the man's presence. Pulling the drawstring of the pants in as far as they would go, he finally flopped to kiss his blonde mate, "Are you sure about that?"

"Unless wishing for someone to die could make them," He huffed, "I'm positive."

Gellert tended to taste like mint and thunderstorms rolling in, while kissing him felt like being struck by lightning, and it was an easy sensation to get lost in. While the mint was very common of sirens and their magic, the storms had always been a bit odd, as controlling storms was a vampire trait.

They wound up twisting until Gellert was straddling him and undoing the tie on the pants he'd just put in place, "I don't know why you even bothered."

Albus replied with the same thing he'd been saying since their summer in '99, "Going to bed isn't the solution to everything."

"Like Hel it's not."

Percy laughed and Albus glanced over as the blonde's nails trailed down his chest lightly. He'd rolled over to perch with one arm behind his head amidst the pillows, while his other hand trailed up to stroke the Headmaster's bearded cheek, "Any chance we could persuade you to not worry about it tonight? Boy might have Little Copper's temper, but he's got Jimmy's wick now that it's all out in the open."

"I just want to make this right."

"I did that when I walked into our vault, sweetheart," Percy purred, before he leaned down to kiss Albus.

Where kissing Gellert was an old fight, a battle of the wills for domination that the siren always wanted his bedmates to engage before he gave in, there was no doubt about who was in control with the Hard Charger towering over him. His fantasies over the years hadn't had a clue. The vampire's mouth was an addiction.

He tasted like dark chocolate and poppies, along with the barest aftertaste of ash from smoking, a habit Albus had taken to more and more after Ariana died. For lack of a shirt to grab onto he wound up clutching the war brands stretched over Percy's biceps. And he'd never been harder in his fucking life when his mate finally pulled back.

As soon as he opened his eyes he just happened to have the perfect angle to see over the older wizard's shoulder, "You have a back tattoo too?"

"Yes."

"Can I see it?"

Percy just laughed, "Of course you can, Copper Top."

He went up on his knees and twisted around, which only put him in the perfect position for Gellert to claim his mouth, while Albus explored the massive brand with his finger tips. It was composed of two magical creatures.

It was a wampus, an American lion, which had a coat black as night and a curly mane of the same color, though it was highlighted by a jaguar's pattern in gold and whisps of the sun streaked through the mane. The beast's eyes were scarlet, along with the inside of its roaring mouth, and that part of the depiction reminded Albus of the golden lion with a scarlet mane that was roaring on his right shoulder. There was no doubt about the feline gifted with powers of legilimency and hypnosis being a good representation for any vampire.

Then the wampus had a serpent curling around it in shimmering silver, marred only by small ancient runes for protection in the barest accents of emerald green. The head of the creature came to rest on the wampus' forehead, laying casually in the lion's mane, with a face that was actually pulled into a grin. It hissed a forked tongue of emerald and had emeralds for horns on the head that transformed the creature into a horned serpent. Looking closer there were silver runes for power on the tongue.

The joint image meant he wasn't sure, "So, which is your school house?"

Percy grinned at him as he pulled away from Gellert, "Wampus. My traitorous twin sister went the other way."

He realized the depiction must have been a tribute and said as much.

G laughed, "In more ways that you know."

When Albus looked between them confused, it was the vampire who laughed and moved to explain, letting his form shift to reveal himself as an animagus. The Headmaster scoffed when he was suddenly in bed with a real wampus, realizing why James was so determined to screw with Percy about being one himself, "Harry does not find out about this."

"You're screwed," Gellert disclosed.

After letting the fae pet him, Percy changed back laughing, "I didn't know when I got the tattoo. It was my first and supposed to be a family tribute."

"Not just you and your sister?"

"No. My mother's parents were the heir of the lion's court, the founder of Ilvermorny, and the founder of the Graves line respectively," He shrugged, "The last got jealous of the back brand and I wound up getting this one."

His hand was on his chest, but Albus was still catching up. The Lioncourts were the family that took over the Gryffindor lordship, when the last Godric of the Gryffindors fell and his sister had already moved to France to marry. And there was only one vampire connected to his family tree; the one that made him wear both a lion and phoenix ring, "Your grandfather is Lestat de Lioncourt?"

"Well, my mother died in childbirth," Percy shrugged, "So, he's truly my père, but yes."

Despite being shocked, Albus moved onto the next disclosure, "And your grandmother is the founder of Ilvermorny, so she's a descendant of Slytherin."

"Yes."

"Are you a parselmouth?" Albus demanded, still leaned back on the pillows next to him when Percy reclined in the spot next to him. He automatically brought his knees up for Gellert to lean back when the siren shifted to get comfortable in his lap, an ingrained response from 1899 that couldn't be killed.

In answer the vampire just hissed out a yes.

"Well, aren't you impressive?"

Gellert was the one to scoff, "Literally could have been playing with him for ninety-two and a half years."

Albus rolled his eyes, "Well your son caused the worst of it."

"Took after his grandfather, that one," The siren sighed, settling into his position and head falling back into the crook of his mate's knees.

"Now that I know you mean Lestat de Lioncourt," Albus laughed, "That is a striking comparison."

"Père is a sensation like that."

Across his fae empathy a foreign sensation of jealousy was like a strike and he studied Percy as the emotion faded away just as quickly from his aura. Eventually only a small blotch of green lingered in the outskirts of the colors; his entire aura a range of black, white, and silver. He took in how the vampire twisted at the tungsten ring shaped like the family's turul, with its diamonds for eyes, that took up residency on his middle finger next to the silver wedding band, decorated with reflected obsidian and moonstone dragonheads and their opposing classic and black diamonds for eyes, which he wore because Gellert wanted him marked across all the popular traditions. 

Why was he jealous though?

"You didn't like them being so close?"

Lavender blue eyes shot up to him and Percy scoffed, "What? No, I thought him being the frenchman's mini-me was hilarious."

Gellert smiled at his husband fondly, "Percy was always on Flea's arse too often to be the favorite."

The smile he got in response shone with the same emotion, "I was his father. Comes with the territory."

"You weren't always on Jamie."

"Jimmy might have fucked around often, but never when it would affect him becoming an Auror."

Albus laughed, "True."

"Can't wait to see where Harry falls," Gellert put in.

The pulsingly changing pattern of colors that suddenly surrounded Percy's aura rang of insecurity. It made the Headmaster scoff as he realized, "All forms of his idolatry are truly aimed in your direction."

Gel was lost between them, "Who?"

Percy looked up at him surprised and then seemed to remember that Albus knew what he was feeling, so he grinned, "You remember when you spotted me wearing this ring the first time? You got the giggles."

Albus turned red as his hair at remembering the vampire could hear his near constant stream of thought and it only got worse when Gellert got offended in his lap, "No, the ring was lovely, that wasn't…"

"Then what in Helheim was it?!"

"You'd shown it to me for years, talking about if the two of you ever got back together. I'd talked to you the day before and you hadn't seen him," He shrugged, "We'd just gotten over the shock of his first letter in September."

Percy appraised both of them and let himself relax into the pillows as he did, "I have to ask this. Were you two together while we were separated?"

"Physically?" The fae sighed, "Never. I wouldn't deage and Abby didn't start speaking to me again until '71."

"Emotionally…" Gellert sighed, "Without question. I was sucking on his energy like a sponge."

"Huh…"

He looked and felt puzzled, so Albus demanded, "What?"

“Nothing... Orion told me you weren’t, but…” He seemed a bit lost, "I just always thought you were."

Gellert shrugged, "Does it matter?"

Albus was as confused as his best friend, but Percy's gaze was locked on the seer, "You really went without for three decades?"

When the legendary Liberator huffed, it was decidedly fond, "Yes, Percy. I wasn't going to sleep with anyone else."

"Why not? I…"

"If you say 'I did' then you will be smacked."

Albus watched the vampire's teeth snap together as he cut himself off.

"I wanted my husband back," Gellert insisted, "From the moment I stepped over the line, I just… You may get bothered about the affair, but I have to live with the knowledge that you didn't even want her."

"Hmm…" Percy couldn't exactly deny that and just appraised the man he married, "Well, technically you’re married to him too.”

“True,” Albus agreed with a grin, “Of course, that separation has gone on even longer than yours.”

Gel sighed and sunk down even lower in the fae’s lap, “Is it any wonder Lily didn’t want to leave him with us?”

"Gel…"

Percy scoffed, "No, he's got a point."

Albus sighed quietly, "Doesn't help with what we do now. I'm maxed out of trusting him to anyone else for a lifetime."

His vampire mate chuckled, "He'll marry eventually."

"I'm with Albie," Gellert insisted, "He can marry in his thirties. Minimum."

“Whatever you say, baby boy.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So glad people are excited for this one! I think we've got one more chapter set in third year, before we get to Harry, the tournament, and him playing the field. Let me know who you want to see him hook up with and who should be endgame!!!

Harry shook himself as he woke up. He was getting pretty good at distinguishing dreams from visions. And that vision predicting the Deathly Trio were going to get worse before they got better just made too much sense. 

It was still dark outside and Draco was sprawled over him like a starfish, while Neville was enveloping the entire other side of the bed like the big bear he was. He couldn’t help but think of Dudley whenever the two were around. Draco had the attitude and Neville the look. And he could only hope the brat was faring alright after he blew up the spinster hag.

His friends hadn’t been in here when the Boy Who Lived went to sleep, so he just had to assume they’d migrated due to all the excitement. Draping Dray over the Longbottom heir took only a moment, then Harry grabbed Hedwig from her perch in the corner standing guard and went to explore. 

He’d only been in Nurmengard the first time a few months ago, when Hermione was petrified and Ginny was missing, but he knew enough to get out to the garden. When Dad said that he had until the Hard Charger found out about something to get away with it, the advice had seemed like a suggestion, but it was rather clearly a warning upon closer inspection. Now he had the Deathly Trio shacked up and communicating to contend with.

It was his own personal hell.

Something altered Harry to the opposite corner of the vegetation from Grandpa Gel’s swing and he was genuinely shocked that his billowing robed parent didn’t just melt into the night invisible. He scoffed when the Potions Master was just frozen with a cauldron before him and demanded, “What now? To the pain?”

The Head of House for Slytherin blinked after a moment. He got the reference, it was just… But, he finally managed to voice, “I despise that movie.”

“Inconceivable!” He plopped down across the garden on the siren’s rocking bed and only grinned when the man tried to glare at him. Immunity to Snape’s dirty looks was something ever self suspecting Gryffindor prided themselves on after the first week of classes.

Severus didn’t want to snap at his son. He really didn’t. But, the teenager was always gunning for a fight.

Always!

Anything he said could and would be used against him in a court of law.

And it was just like his husband.

James had always been yanking at their chain. From the moment he walked into Hogwarts and got a vision of being their mate, the Stag Charger had been the bane of his and Lily’s existence. Until the brat finally hauled himself across the fifteen mark in March of ‘75. From that first day to his last the giant pain in the neck was always goading them for…

Attention.

“Do you enjoy fighting with me?” Severus demanded after two years of scrapping with his son in and out of classes, “Or is that just the only time I speak to you?”

Harry shrugged, “Both? You always rise to the occasion.”

“And sometimes you’re just in the mood to rumble,” Severus noted.

That was all Lily.

His wife used to wake up mad at the world for not doing and being better. Those days he usually left her to the Headmaster. It was just so easy to treat him like Jamie’s likeness though, that he'd missed every red flag in creation.

“It tickles me,” His son seemed to shrug off the last two years in a gesture.

“Well, it’s not a car rammed into the Whomping WIllow,” Severus set him with a look, before returning to slicing the petals for Harry’s potion, “But, you certainly don’t relegate yourself to the sidelines.”

“You might have your righteousness,” Harry allowed, flopping back to stretch out on the swing and it’s cushion as fluffy as any full mattress, “But I’ve got a house elf with authoritarian issues.”

“You had to bond over something.”

“Teenagers managing to vanquish a Dark Lord while your lot twiddle your thumbs,” Harry poked and Hedwig rolled her eyes before flying off, “Can’t wait to see how the papers twist it.”

"I believe the trenchcoat had far more to do with that decline than you did," Severus clipped.

"Yeah."

Harry shut down like he always did.

For once instead of thinking that the Gryffindor was too stubborn to listen, he took a second look. He was petty like Lily, but that wasn't all. Their son was emotional like her.

All the time.

Severus had every ability to break into minds and thoughts; it was the nature of a vampire. He'd never been able to deny that Harry had secrets there, not that he'd gone deep enough to find out what, but it wasn't what held the heart of every issue for him. That's where he was a Gryffindor like his mother.

"What?"

Green eyes, glowing like a cat's in the night, were all he could see when Harry picked nothing but his head up from the swing, "Huh?"

"Did Ragnarok arrive because the truth came out, Mr. Potter?" Severus wanted to make him feel better, but he was also shocked and had to know, "You went back to Petunia's before just telling us the truth?"

His son scoffed and his head dropped back onto the cushion, "Yes."

Severus growled and left the potion to brew until the sun came up, stomping toward the garden statue of an American Turul cast in marble between them, "You can't have been with Petunia."

"This can't be news to you!" 

"Well, it is," Severus growled again and studied his son, but Harry hadn't bothered to move anymore. He got the distinct impression the teenager, as he was now that it was past midnight, rolled his eyes beneath that arm strone over them.

But, this wasn't about the Dursleys. Not for Harry. Despite it all, the third years surface thoughts for his aunt and cousin weren't hate filled. And even remained a bit protective.

If his wife were here and all her plans had been ruined by Graves showing up… Fae may have been strange, emotional creatures, but he'd been raised by one and married the tosser's only daughter, "You will make your mark."

Green eyes came back to lock sights with him again. Clearly he'd surprised the rising third year, probably from actually getting something right. So, he continued, "You will outsmart the Elder Wand Conqueror, and stand sure against the Hard Charger, and keep your silence against the Liberator. You certainly proved you could hold your peace."

Harry laughed at that.

Grandpa Gel always told the truth. His manipulation came from what he didn't say. Always.

"Yes, he showed up and you didn't get to go on a horcrux hunt," Severus couldn't believe he was even saying it, "Go back to the drawing board. Hold a team meeting. And next time hit them where it really hurts."

Harry sat back up and just stared at his father for the longest time, "You're encouraging me to do this?"

"I'm saying there's no reason to get depressed because he showed up. Your family is not the enemy," The vampire changed topics quickly, not thinking Harry would take well to being told how alike they were at the moment, "Your mother…"

Glowing eyes tilted as his head did and they shone with curiosity.

"Your mother got to this point too," He finally confessed, "Where he showed up and she quit wanting to engage."

"Not Dad?"

"He didn't even notice," Severus divulged, "It was just his dad showing up. Why would he?"

Harry sat there and let that sink in. Mum had been treated as a muggle born witch outside of the family and always had to go above the call of duty just to prove herself. Even she'd always wanted to stand as an equal to Percival Graves though everyone failed to do so and she probably wanted it more than any of them. If the perfect student couldn't manage, what chance did he have?

Severus laughed when the thought slipped past Harry's natural shield, "Perfect student? Is that what the old coot likes you to think?"

The teenager watched him sit down on the base of the Turul statue and asked him startled, "She wasn't?"

"She was, I guess," He shrugged and one hand automatically reached to swipe at his goatee, "We went to class, unlike your dad, and she was gifted… Didn't have to put any effort in."

Harry meant to keep the smirk off his face.

Really he did.

Severus just shook his head, "I was reading over that fix you did on Wolfsbane…"

"Well… If you don't think the first thing I did after class was look up what would happen if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood, then you're bloody well soft in the head."

"If I'd have just caught it," Severus tried to look at the last two years from his son's perspective, "How could you not say something?! Between her letter and that. It had been a day, maybe two!"

_ "And by then, I wouldn't have given you the ssssatisfaction,"  _ Harry hissed in response.

"With derision in his voice, he said it," Percy noted with a chuckle as he stepped out into the garden. He usually smoked before he went in, but it had been a while since there was a crowd at this hour.

"Hi, Grandpa."

"Boys."

"Morning, Uncle Percy."

He watched them scatter into their separate corners, one taking off for his cauldron and the other going back to sleep on his husband's swing, "What moment did I interrupt?"

"We were just talking," Severus intoned evenly, already hidden back behind his potion.

And Harry didn't so much as breathe from where he was sprawled out with an arm slung over his eyes.

"Fine," He'd let them have their little talk, "You should still be asleep."

"Couldn't," Harry muttered, "A day in the life."

"Hmm… Have you ever had an inheritance test done?" Percy demanded before inhaling.

"A week ago," Harry disclosed, "Got five. Siren, fae, vampire, genie, and parsel magics."

"Well, aren't you just a little over achiever," He noted, "Might even be six, if you got the fire spirit inheritance; your dad and Grandpa Flea did. That dragon from your first year…"

"Norbert."

"Whatever," Percy couldn't only guess that was typical from a man who would name a cerberus Fluffy, "Did you interact with him much?"

"I guess," Harry still didn't bother to move from his sprawl on the swing, "We played a little. Before the little guy got shipped back to Romania."

"I'll take six for five hundred," Percy noted, because dragons didn't just play with anyone, "I'm leaving for Albania. Harry, you're in charge until I get back."

"Finally, a humanitarian," The teenager noted as the man disappeared out of the front gate after putting out his cigar on the turul statue.

Silence took back over the garden until the sun came up. Severus got the potion ready and prayed to any god that had their ears on before bringing it over to Harry. The brat could have had a little more respect than to just down it like a shot though and it was more than deserving of an eye roll.

His thirteen year old arse passed out and woke up puking, but was otherwise fine once the heaving stopped. The Potions Master rubbed his back and vanished the black sludge that was an apt description of the Dark Lord's soul, "I should have called you on it all after you talked to that snake."

Despite having been puking his guts out, Harry snorted and rolled back onto the swing, "I thought you were going to."

"How could I have missed it?"

"Kept my eyes on Grandpa Albus and off you," Harry answered, "Religiously, as it were."

"Smart," Severus huffed, "Go brush your teeth."

Harry rolled his eyes, but went, "Yes, Pops."

It couldn't be that easy. When Harry stopped at the door and turned back to stare at him, the Potions Master was expecting a smart remark. Instead his son went another way, "I don't know what you remember about Petunia, but she's my aunt. She got landed with two boys and a psycho, but she's not Vernon."

"Hmm…" He started cleaning up his supplies, "Enablers are not to be given a free pass."

"She didn't have anywhere to go!" Harry hissed it, but didn't drop into parseltongue, "Her parents and sister were dead, then she had me and Dudley. She didn't want to be stuck with him anymore than I did."

"No?" Severus took him in slowly and with regard for the first time, then finally allowed, "I'll pass that along, then. Maybe the Hard Charger can do something about that."

He let Harry go and cleaned up from brewing the potion. By the time he got back inside his father and Uncle Gellert were awake in the kitchen, both probably having gotten up when his vampire uncle had. Didn't take long to sum up that Harry was awake and had successfully purged the horcrux.

Though both were shocked it was done, the Headmaster and Chief Warlock decided to dress and go into the Ministry. After all the team needed to know. If they could get rid of Tom Riddle once and for all, then they needed to do it. 

Without delay.

When the fae was gone to dress, Severus told Gellert about his exchange with Harry concerning Petunia, and they discussed their options. Lily hadn't told the older generation about the woman and he tried to fill in the gaps. When they were settling down and starting a family, yes, Lily had good reason to cut off her sister.

Petunia was toxic and refused to accept magic on any level.

Was she capable of putting scars on Harry like that?

After seeing the memory of his son's stomach, the vampire had to admit that was a no. He'd still say the woman was abusive and needed therapy. But, she wasn't capable of that.

The fact that any of the three had wound up as well adjusted as they were was a miracle. And Lily wouldn't have turned her sister away, just as the Potions Master had learned their vampire family never would have turned his mother away. He wasn't willing to risk his wife's ire in the white light, if he left her sister to ruin.

Even Petunia deserved the chance Eileen Prince hadn't gotten.

Everyone got up within the next hour and they certainly made for a lively group. He took one look at Cissy in her grandmother's robe and figured if she wasn't pregnant again yet, then she soon would be. Black was dressed and ready to go in for reparation negotiations at the earliest summons from their uncle, while Lupin was already back in the seat next to him being a sarcastic arse about every other word to come out of the man's mouth. Some things never changed.

The teenagers came back down to feast and he got the distinct impression, knowing Draco as well as he did, that Harry simply hadn't bothered with mentioning his morning activities. The blondes not losing their minds seemed to make it a fair assumption.

Everyone was still piled around the table when they heard the floo fire and Graves showed back up, holding his fae mate's hand and leading the man inside. The lot of them had been waiting to see Harry's confrontation with Albus ever since realizing they'd missed his faceoff with Severus. Never let it be said Harry didn't rise to an occasion as well.

"Well, we see who wasn't afraid to sleep their way out of trouble," Harry noted, eyes flicking up and down to Headmaster, before he turned to Draco.

Both of them had the most evenkill expressions, even as they met glances, and it truly was like him and Lily. His wife needed a Slytherin best friend who knew how to keep a straight face through the punchline. Gryffindors just couldn't do it.

Their son had no such qualms.

"To think my forgiveness could be bought for such a low price," He hissed and shook his head.

"Outrageous, the thought," Draco agreed with a tone like the grave.

Harry spun on his heel and walked out with the other Peverell heirs without stopping to enjoy everyone's reaction. Remus and Gellert were both laughing so hard that no sound was coming out. While Black was the loudest and pounded his fist on the table.

Cissy was shocked, hand splayed over her mouth. But, the Potions Master just snickered and patted his best friend's hand.

Uncle Percy tried to cut off his laughter and hide his grin, but he couldn't quite manage as he appraised his fae mate, "Well, I guess he's not over it yet."

And Severus' father looked positively scandalized as his sights trailed after Harry, "Was I just slutshamed by a thirteen year old?"

"Yes," Percy answered honestly, "Inconsequentially, I have to go firecall your brother."

The Director moved quickly to the fireplace to summon his best friend. Fawkes had managed to return to the Ministry with a roasted snake while they were there. And Albus had waited around with his familiar for the team to return from Albania, then Percy had destroyed the remaining eighth of Riddle's soul before the Wizengamot using necromancy.

They were free of Lord Voldemort and news would break more broadly with the evening edition. As would news of the Hard Charger's retirement. Gellert's probation. And Harry's change in custody.

Albus knew instantly that he'd never live down Harry's remark, if they lived to be a thousand, and just left them all to their amusement and celebrations. He went to find his grandson instead and wasn't shocked when the three teenagers went into the garden with their brooms. Watching them for a few minutes let him ponder what in the world to say.

Clearly he was in the doghouse with Harry, so he pleaded with the other two when they caught sight of him on the ground first, "Can we have a moment, boys?"

Draco met Harry's glance in the air, "He holds no power here. It's up to you, mate."

The other birthday boy shared a look with Neville and finally shrugged, "It's fine."

Where the Longbottoms were heirs to Cadmus Peverell and the Blacks were heirs to Antioch, both seemed perfectly united in glaring him into behaving. It was a silent threat, but he wouldn't test the waters. 

He wasn't here to fight with Harry.

They flew up to an open window off Gellert's suite and he sighed. There was so much to say. And it shouldn't have taken this long.

"I'm so sorry," He expressed, as soon as his grandson touched down and met his gaze, "Harry, every decision I made was supposed to be for your benefit. Not your harm."

The younger Gryffindor sniffed and readjusted his broom in hand, "How did I even end up there? There are ten other adults in this circus!"

Albus sighed and moved to the nearest cast iron chair, "Halloween was a Saturday that year and Hagrid went to get you. I was shocked into an apathetic numb when my familial bond with your mother shattered."

The teenager wandered closer, "I read about that. One of Madam Pomfrey's pamphlets for fae inheritances."

He huffed fondly, because his healer had pamphlets on every magical inheritance they knew of. She was always trying to educate the kids on how to deal with their own and their friends' abilities, "Well, Newt was trying to pull me out of it, and we had to get you somewhere safe."

He left his broom on the turul statue and sunk down in the chair next to the Headmaster to listen.

"The Evans, your grandparents, had died a few months before," Albus explained, "And your mother worried constantly about you having parents and grandparents. She didn't want you left with someone from our generation."

"Way to go, Mum," Harry muttered.

"Her muggle sister was the most logical solution," Albus confessed, "Because the next morning we got word of Sirius' arrest, what had been done to the Longbottoms, and then the Auror Report came out saying he'd confessed after being dosed with veritaserum."

"Were you capable of anything beyond logical thought at that point?"

The Headmaster shook his head, "Not for a couple of weeks. I'm so sorry, Harry. I am."

"No one knew where I was?"

"Only Hagrid and Professor McGonagall," He had to admit, "She tried to warm me, but from within the numb…"

"Always listen to McGonagall," Harry insisted, "That's the first rule of the lion's den!"

The Headmaster of Hogwarts chuckled though his eyes were watery, "I predate that rule, as it were."

"Predate, perhaps," Harry hissed at him nastily, "Preclude, certainly not."

And his grandson had the scars to prove that, didn't he?

"Touche."

"Well, if you're holding out for an apology," Harry dismissed the serious conversation with a wave, "You'll die disappointed."

Albus laughed and shook his head, but also had to admit, "I cannot believe you said that to me! I waited almost a century!"

"Well, I'll take your return fire like a lion," Harry offered, standing so they could go back inside, "But I'm not waiting until my thirties."

"Of course not," Albus muttered sarcastically, "You've always proven to be difficult."

"I'm going to know once I'm fifteen."

"That means nothing," Albus dismissed with a wave, glancing around the garden that was Gellert's pride and joy, "It takes eight years to get to know someone, so you should wait at least ten before you get married."

"Then what's your excuse?!"

"I've known them since the summer of '98," Albus noted, "Or at least of them."

Harry gave him a funny look while moving up the stairs and he could put together what the third year wanted to know. All those who hadn't hit the puberty mark had questions about inheritances. They always did.

The nuisance and limits of the magic were a foreign concept. All the pamphlets in the world couldn't quite bridge what a well told story could show, "For example, I had my mating dream at seventeen just before my seventh year…"

"That was when Hogwarts was hosting the Triwizard Tournament, right?"

"Right. And…"

"You let Grandpa Gellert take the Cup, so he would win and marry you."

Albus had to shake his head, "Not the example I was going for. See, my bond with Percy opened at the same time."

"But, I thought you two hadn't talked?"

"Well, that's what I mean to explain. You see, Harry, mating dreams are but a flash. One can't control or explain just how brief the experience will be until it's actually happening to you."

"Okay?"

"Back then, we didn't have the means for quick communication like exists currently, and often just exchanged rather vague names and locations in our dreams," He divulged with a shrug, "It's how we found one another."

"So," Harry allowed, "What did you know about Grandpa Percy?"

"Well, that's the technicality of it all. He'd deaged to twenty after meeting Grandpa Gellert a few months before, because he turned fifteen before I turned seventeen."

Harry could do the math and in terms of magic Grandpa Albus had hit fae puberty only after reaching seventeen, where sirens had the youngest magical threshold at fifteen, minus a few advanced Intimacy Daemons. He hadn't thought of how complicated it could all get when coming together.

"All we knew was that he was an auror in New York City and his full name was Henry Percival Graves Potter," Albus chuckled, "America's first vampire auror hadn't been big news in rural Godric's Hollow. No one was going to let any few fangled ideas like that anywhere near their little town."

Harry snorted in front of him and glanced back over his shoulder, "What about your bond?"

"See, that's my point, when the bond first opens it's a weak little thing," His hands moved even behind Harry as he explained and the teenager seemed to know it, so they wound up paused on a landing, "It's like a muscle that needs time to grow and be strong. Rather like most forms of magic, in this regard mating is not unique."

"Why these days," Albus noted, moving up the final flight with them side by side and Harry no longer determined to cold shoulder him, "They could probably sense each other anywhere. Where mine with Grandpa Percy isn't nearly as strong for having been neglected."

"Huh," Harry hadn't really considered the school year before Ariana Dumbledore died, "Were you going to go to New York?"

"Yes," He chuckled as they wandered back into Gellert's suite, "But, life never did follow a charted course."

An air of contemplation seemed to surround Harry for a moment and he confessed, "That certainly changes the tone of the story."

Of course that was the moment that an arriving Aberforth spotted his return from the gardens and couldn't contain his goat self, "Good morning, slut!"

"Just a reminder," Albus noted with the slightest show of his Scottish lit, "That I can kick your bloody arse from here to St. Jerome's bell."

"Little Prince," The brat shouted, ignoring him, "Come and give me love!"

"Hi, Grandpa."

"Just put him in his place," Abby hugged him tighter, "I have never been prouder!"

"Perhaps a scarlet letter should be my next tattoo," Albus suggested.

"When the shoe fits!"

"What are you doing in my castle?" Grandpa Gel demanded over Harry's head, "I will still dangle you from the ramparts by your toes."

"One night too much, Fiend?" The Innkeep demanded, still clutching their grandchild to his chest, "Need another break from him already? Perhaps try to make it to the century mark this time?"

When Harry was finally released he landed on the couch between his best friends, who told him that Sirius had just left for reparation negotiations with the Hard Charger. Apparently there was a plan for him to demand the Head Auror role back and Theseus Scamander was going to retire so an auror named Kingsley Shacklebolt could be Lord Commander of Special Operations. The real news was Tina Scamander filing her letter of resignation just hours after the previous Director.

"No!"

"Yes," Draco insisted, "The Hard Chargette has retired!"

"She can't retire on my birthday! I'm not old enough to take over yet!"

"Thank Frigg," Gellert noted from his place on Albus' lap, "I'll alert the papers."

Harry rolled his eyes at him and glared at the Liberator. Asking across their mating bond, the fae clarified that they'd been having this debate, since Harry told Gellert that he wanted to be an auror in his first letter at Yule during his first year, "I'm not going to debate this with you."

"Then concede and we'll forget all about it," Gellert offered genuinely, "Be a healer like your mother! Or a Potions Master like your father!"

"Funny how both of those certifications would look great on an auror application."

"Harry, honey…"

"I want to be an auror!"

"And I want you to outlive me! Is that too much to ask?"

"Maybe! Death does not…"

"Oh gods, don't say it."

Albus chuckled and rubbed his back, "Let it go, G."

It took a couple of hours, but Harry was wrestling with Draco and making him confess Gryffindors superiority from a headlock when Sirius came back through the floo. His godfather admitted to being torn on the matchup and the Boy Who Lived let his nemesis and best friend go, "Where's Grandpa Percy?"

"He went to get your aunt," Sirius noted for everyone, "And cousin. Said something about running out of time."

Gellert snorted, but led everyone to get dinner without explanation. His husband was retired and trying to out maneuver his père. It was certainly bound to be a sensation when Mamie couldn't hold back his mate's curiosity anymore. Percy had been blocking his familial bonds since he went to collect Harry at Gringotts.

Both were going to lose their minds when they found out.

They had a small birthday celebration planned for after dinner. The seer spent all day working on the cake. He'd gone for lemon, in the shape of a deathly hallows symbol, and both boys were content enough given the craziness that had been the last twenty four hours.

Percy arrived with Petunia and her son as everyone was getting settled at the table. Both looked terrified behind Sirius, where the recent fugitive had burst in first from getting changed, and Harry seemed to worry about buffering for the muggles. Ironically enough, Gellert found himself trying to be the one to help, because both his mates had decided to get pissed off now that the woman was here and safe.

It got a little easier when the Scamanders poured in for the spontaneous garden party and Queenie got there with Jacob. The Liberator had no idea what to do with the woman and child, but any information coming from his husbands was unwilling at best. Percy could tell that she was magical in some regard, but didn’t give a damn because she’d bared their grandson for the slaughter to protect herself. And Albus knew the child had magical potential too, even if neither of them were strong enough for an institution like Hogwarts or Ilvermorny.

Not able to channel like witches or wizards, some muggles did have magical talents from past magic users in their line, but there wasn’t a lot to go on. Both Petunia and Lily had been taken from a muggle orphanage. He had Cissy do some preliminary readings during the party as a mind healer, but the woman had so much trauma surrounding magic at large that there was little there.

Gellert wasn’t sure how to approach the situation tonight, but at least he was trying. Just like his mates, in some twist of fate that had to have even James and Lily befuddled in the after life, Severus had closed ranks with Remus and Sirius. The trio were pissed on Harry’s behalf and wanted Petunia’s head.

Couldn’t do anything with Harry and the kids all loitering about though. So, she took the hint rather well and stayed near Jacob most of the night. Tanté and Augusta eventually showed back up, but lines were mostly still drawn the same. The witches had very little use for a muggle.

Knowing he was on limited time before his fine arse was tossed from the frying pan and into the fire, Percy moved to call his parents once they all got into the garden. He didn’t technically lie to them. He’d decided to retire after being rid of Tom Riddle, he’d taken custody of Harry, and now they were having a spontaneous party. Gellert reminded him that wasn’t exactly how the last couple days had gone.

“Shh,” The Hard Charger attempted to by his silence with a kiss, “He never needs to know.”

“You finally ate someone,” The siren chuckled, “And you’re not even going to tell him?”

“He can find out in a couple years,” Percy insisted, “When Time of the Blood comes up again.”

“Oh, Tiger.”

He just growled at the inaccurate nickname and went to wait on his parents to floo in. Had to have the common decency to warn his mate though, “I told him to bring Mateo and Gomez. I’m sick of him holding my friends hostage.”

“He’d say it’s not even been a century and you’re…”

“Yeah, yeah,” Percy waved him off as he headed inside, “I’m still being punished.”

“Why is he being punished?” Albus asked, coming from nowhere to wrap around him from behind.

Gellert watched as Harry and Draco started a Quidditch debate about next year's World Cup, before it descended into a chance to explain the sport to Dudley, "Well… Percy and I eloped on New Year's Day of 1900, coincidentally also his birthday, and Père has never gotten over it completely."

"How so?"

"He started speaking to us again when Flea was born in '04, but right after we eloped he ordered both of Percy's best friends from childhood to leave New York."

"Oh my."

"Woah! You're Lestat de Lioncourt!"

They both looked up at Draco's exclamation and Albus was shocked when, sure enough, the reigning Prince of Vampire Society was already standing in the garden. The blonde vampire with long hair like a lion's mane and clad in silk and leather immediately had all the teenagers' attention next to Percy. And the Hard Charger was quickly introducing the man as his père, but there was a thick line of tension surrounding both of their auras that Albus didn’t think was going away immediately.

"Have they ever had it out?" Albus demanded.

"Not yet," The siren grinned and turned to kiss him.

"What kind of bird is that?" Harry demanded.

He'd just gotten a hug from Lestat de Lioncourt and was being introduced to the man's mate, Louis de Pointe du Lac, who looked like Snow White with dark onyx hair and green eyes like Harry's. The man had a large black bird, almost the size of Fawkes and Hedwig, who looked like a big old eagle, though its eyes were decidedly like two neverending holds of fog and a bit creepy.

The creature seemed to make some of the others uncomfortable and they all went back to trying to cobble together enough people for a pick up game, until soon it was just Harry and the only Scamander girl besides the Hard Chargette, Luna. He’d only seen the incoming second year sparingly around the castle, but she was a nice girl for such an odd duckling, and Hedwig adored her. He wasn’t surprised to find out that Ginny had taken a liking to her and didn’t tend to let anyone mess with the little elf; Ron’s sister wasn’t one to cross.

“This is Morana,” Louis offered the turul his forearm and she climbed down from his shoulder to be shown off, “She’s an American Turul.”

“Amazing,” Luna’s magizoologist grandfather offered from behind them, “I’ve never seen one in person.”

“Yes, well,” Pépère sounded dismissive even as he spoke, “Stick around. You might even catch sight of a few direwolves.”

Grandpa Percy absolutely sparked next to his father, “Really?”

“Yes, they’re coming,” The rockstar shook his head at the wizard who, to him, hadn’t even topped his second century yet, “You irritating, defiant, rebellious little cretin. I shouldn’t be rewarding such bad behavior!”

The Hard Charger just grinned and popped a kiss on his mouth. Harry had noticed the vampires he was suddenly being introduced to did that a lot more and he’d checked on Grandpa Gel. The Liberator didn’t seem to think a thing about it, “Thank you, Père.”

“Yes, yes. Away with you.”

“Well,” Mamie, as he’d been introduced, moved to explain a bit about the creature, “They’re the familiar and totem animal for House Graves. A turul egg was originally brought over from Hungary, but they didn’t have one of the feathers from each parent to hatch it…”

“Someone didn’t think it through” Newt muttered behind Harry’s head unhappily.

Louis chuckled, “Yes, they wound up using a feather from an American Black Vulture and a Bald Eagle, which created this breed.”

“She’s beautiful,” Harry noted, reaching gently to see if the bird would let him touch her, and she rubbed against his hand with her head amenable enough.

“Once the feathers are used to hatch an egg they’re very powerful and host a magic that’s forever linked to the life they created,” He chuckled and glanced over to Grandpa Percy, “One of Morana’s feathers made Percival’s wand as a matter of fact. The first of its kind.”

“No way!”

The vampire chuckled and let Harry see his wand, “Yes, my godmother made it. Your nanny, Violetta Beauvais.”

“I’ve heard of her,” Luna commented, still petting Morana, “She made some of the States most legendary wands and artifacts. Quite the artist.”

“Woah,” Harry handed it back, but he was surprised by the kick he felt when holding the sleek black wand, the silver accents so shiny and pristine they looked more white than grey. He’d held plenty of his friends’ wands before. When Draco and Hermione worked on that polyjuice potion to get them into the Slytherin Common Room, he’d been required to take away wands when the going got tough, but even theirs weren’t like that.

Actually, Hermione’s dragon heartstring wand had a pop to it, but it still wasn’t comparable.

"Very impressive indeed," Newt noted, before he turned to study Hedwig on his only daughter's only daughter's shoulder, "I swear I know her from somewhere."

He'd said that several times, but Harry couldn't imagine where the two would have met. And Hedwig took exception to the scrutiny and took off to hunt. Luna blamed her grandfather and the two descended into a playful squabble.

They all lost the train of thought when someone cried from the castle.

“Percival!”

“Gomez!”

He watched the two suit clad men collide into one another, tightly embraced and kissing, before they pulled back. The new man was a little shorter than the Hard Charger, but everyone was except Hagrid, and this man looked to be coming in right below Grandpa Albus. The friends were both in black jackets with crisp white button ups and ties, dark hair slicked back similarly, and Harry was shocked they weren’t related.

Eventually they parted and Grandpa Percy turned to kiss the cheek of a tall woman who reminded Harry very much of his Potions Master parent, with her sharp cheekbones and being dressed in all black. Of course, Professor Snape would never wear something as revealing as the vee of her neckline.

They had three kids with them. The older girl and boy looked about the same age, even if nothing else about them matched. He was big, towering, and oddly enough had the only blonde head in the bunch shaved close to his scalp, while the girl was slim and looked like the woman’s younger version. Her jet black hair was in pigtail braids, but her resting bitchface could sink a thousand ships when they met gazes.

And Harry got the distinct impression that Grandpa Percy was meeting the baby for the first time. After being handed the little man he turned and waved the Boy Who Lived over, so the official teenager moved with a bounce. He was quickly introduced to Gomez Addams, his wife, Morticia, and their older kids, Wednesday and Pugsley. Eventually he greeted baby Pubert too.

The story, from the way he was told it as Grandpa Gel came over to greet the family, was that Gomez, his grandfather, and a man named Mat had all grown up in the New Orleans of America’s early 1800s, but they were unceremoniously split up by the Hard Charger’s père after the younger vampire ran off to get married at a century old precisely. Gomez made it as far as New Jersey, before meeting his mate in Morticia Frump, getting married, and having their three kids, while debating if they were going to mount a rebellion against Pépère for separating them.

Said rockstar was absolutely incandescent when he learned of this, “You were going to try and overthrow me? The man who raised you?!”

“Yes!” Grandpa Percy and Gomez chorused it and the Prince of Vampire Society gasped in outrage.

“Now, now, darling,” Mamie placated him, though he also looked a tad nervous, “Boys will be boys.”

A howl broke through so close that the whole garden jumped in tandem, except for Grandpa Percy, who was spinning and transforming into his animagus form already. The huge wolf that tackled him was snarling and snapping, making everyone jump. Even being a bright silver color and gorgeous couldn't keep people from a nervous reaction.

"Kill, Amarok! Kill!"

Harry looked up to see who was yelling and started a bit. The man had a caramel complex, green eyes, and dark hair. He'd be shocked not to be related to this guy.

There was another wolf at his side too. Now he knew what Pépère meant about direwolves. The species was near extinct and it was truly amazing to see a pair of them when the two were taller than him when on all fours. He couldn't wait to tell Hagrid about this.

Glancing back to his grandfather showed the huge wolf was only playing. He went down on his front paws with his butt in the air when the wampus stopped horsing around, but he didn't jump again when the wizard shifted back into human form, "Easy, boy. We'll play later."

"Percy!"

"Mat!"

The two embraced and suddenly the party was back on. Draco had gone through the party with a fine tooth comb, but they didn't have enough kids for a pickup game, so they just wound up horsing around in the sky. Turned out that Wednesday was a chaser and Pugsley a beater for Ilvermorny's younger years.

The Addams kids were Grandpa Percy's godkids and spun a tale to them of being shipped off to the summer camp from hell, while Morana abandoned Mamie to explore and wound up parked on Wednesday's shoulder. Apparently she was a Horned Serpent and rising third year, while Pugsley was about to go into his second year. He'd wanted to be a Wampus like Grandpa Percy his whole life and managed to succeed.

Turned out that the Hard Charger had a bunch of old custom brooms that he'd made for Harry's dad in the basement, along with a hundred cars that were magically charmed. They hadn't really done presents today, but his grandfather promised to work on a new broom for him and did a couple quick alterations on his Nimbus 2000. Then they all took to the sky.

Though he wasn't magical in the typical sense of a wizard, Dudley had enough of a core to go flying with them too. His mother almost had a heart attack, but the older teen seemed to enjoy it well enough. And Harry was hanging by him as they soared around, just to make sure that he didn't lose control.

Of course, it wasn't his only motivation by a long shot, "What happened?"

Blonde hair tilted in his direction and blue eyes were a bit weary, but he still answered, "I'm not sure, exactly. I was up at the park and Mum showed up with Mr. Graves and…"

Harry had to grin at the small quiver in his voice when Dudley said the name. And from what he'd seen the man truly didn't mean to be intimidating. He was just 6'5 and had a presence that suggested one should piss their pants.

"...She already had our bags. I guess she just finally left him."

"Hmm… Do you know what their plan is?"

"Not a bloody clue."

Harry nodded, "It's alright. They won't let anything bad happen."

Dudley studied him and then glanced toward the adults below, "Why didn't you… I mean, if you had a way out…"

That part had been getting to him too and Harry sighed, following his gaze to the party. Grandpa Abby was in a smoking circle with the Hard Charger and his returned friends. And Grandpa Albus was huddled up with the Scamander brothers laughing at some story they were telling. The maiden Goldstein sisters were paired off with Aunt Cissy and Jacob Kowalski to try and get to know Aunt Petunia, while Morticia was talking to Oma Hilda and Lady Longbottom. Finally, Pops was paired off with Harry's returned godfather and new Defense professor near his cauldron.

"If I'd know it could be like… I would have done things differently, if I could. There were more important things than my pride."

"Potter!"

Harry looked over at where Dray was bellyaching a hundred yards away.

"Care to join in the fun sometime tonight?!"

He laughed and nodded for Dudley to follow. Harry would have to admit that it was fun to pass a quaffle around and show off a bit. His cousin had never really gotten to see him be good at anything, so now they were on his turf.

Flying at night was always great, but the whole night sky being lit by fireflies of rainbow colors was really beautiful. By the time everything started to wrap up and Grandpa Percy whistled for them to come down, Harry was ready to get some actual sleep. He was fairly certain that it wasn't even their birthday anymore and that it was closer to the time he'd been having his talk with Pops all over again.

Everyone trickled out slowly, beginning with Pépère and Mamie, then the Americans. Minus Grandpa Percy. Though there was one small incident.

When Mateo Wolff was about to leave with his direwolves, he turned to say farewell to the Liberator, and wound up dunking and kissing the man like his life depended on it. It wasn't like the kisses in excitement or greeting; it was longer and with tongue.

Harry was shocked. And Grandpa Albus seemed perplexed. But the Hard Charger just rolled his eyes and shook his head at them.

"Runaway with me?"

The siren laughed, "Not if you were the last wolf on earth."

Mat laughed and put the younger man back on his feet, even spinning him away like they'd been dancing. And he wasn't like other people who were nervous around the Hard Charger. No, he got right in Grandpa Percy's space next and laid one on him too!

"Run away with me?"

"Sorry, lone wolf, we're a pack enterprise."

The mad kisser grinned, maybe a little sad, and looked like he was going to turn on Grandpa Albus next. Harry had seen them talking at the party, but he had no idea what to expect. And luckily his dark and imposing grandfather moved the fae behind him, "Don't."

"Worried he couldn't resist?"

They were about the same height and the corner of the Hard Charger's mouth moved upward, even as he cupped his best friend's face and kissed him again, "I don't know what I missed you for anyhow."

"Liar," He left after that.

And Harry was sharing a look with Draco, Neville, and Dudley wondering what the hell they just witnessed. Then everyone started moving up to bed without any answers.

Grandpa Gel took Aunt Petunia and Dudley to a jack and jill suite near the Marauders. And the rest of the lot had their rooms, so everyone trudged to bed exhausted for all their fun. Harry wasn't quite sure what to make of it all. This sensation was usually reserved for the Weasley Burrow and they were perhaps the one thing that he was missing from a thirteenth birthday that he'd planned to spend in Gringotts.

"Here."

Glancing over his father had appeared from nowhere and was offering a vial of Dreamless Sleep, "Doesn't work right on sirens"

He said as much, but he still took the potion and downed it. The sardonic professor shrugged minutely, "Perhaps, Mr. Potter, you can do something about that."

He watched his son disappear into his room pondering the thought and then went to check on his fae father. The man was still downstairs and claimed to be fine, but Severus put together quickly that this wasn't something he could fix. He left him to think on his own.

Percy had been downstairs cleaning up the garden and honestly didn’t think it through until he found Albus still sitting there, “Hey.”

The fae was clearly trying to shake himself out of it, “Hey. Ready for bed?”

“Let’s talk first,” He suggested, a hand reaching out to pull his mate’s knee closer against his ass he sat down, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have kissed him like that in front of you. It’s… Just been so long and I got excited.”

“You and Gellert have always had an open marriage in terms of men,” Albus shook his head and tried to dismiss it, because he’d known as much from Flea since he showed up at Hogwarts, “It’s fine. I’m being a baby.”

“No… Albus, you’re my mate. The only people I need to be with are you and Gellert. I just…”

He trailed off and his fae mate studied him. No amount of empathy could expand on the conflict and frustration, but also the affection and love, that was permeating the vampire’s aura, “Can I just know what the story is there?”

“Of course… There isn’t that much to tell,” He drummed his hand nervously on his opposite knee, “We grew up together in Louisiana and took off for New York City the very moment that we came into our vampire inheritances at twenty five. We spent a century at the apartment there and eventually I became an auror, then Director of Security, and then I got my mating dreams with you and Gellert.”

“You and Wolff were lovers?”

“Yeah... “ Percy laughed a bit, “We went more consistently for the masculine persuasion, while Gomez was always a ladies man. Actually, Mat was in bed with me the night I got my dream with both of you.”

“Was he upset?”

“Mary and Morgana no,” Percy couldn’t keep the grin off his face, “Went to hollering, woke up Gomez, and we all went out celebrating the next night. We were never… exclusive.”

Albus hummed and turned to take his hand, “How did he take up with Gellert?”

“After he left Godric’s Hollow, not that I knew it at the time, he came stumbling into a bar on Broadway looking for me,” The vampire snorted so hard it had to hurt, “Mat saw him before I did and commented on what a pretty little thing he was at sixteen. And that was all she wrote. Gellert had a thing for him just as much as I did.”

Thinking back on their earlier discussion with Harry, the fae had to know, “Why mount a rebellion? You and Gomez seemed to stay close enough with him in Jersey.”

The Hard Charger let his head fall against the back of the sofa and sighed, “I wanted to go and get Mateo. Père didn’t just order Mat out of New York; he forced him back to Louisiana and kept him on the next plantation over like a hostage.”

That was a shock, “Why didn’t you…?”

His mate’s smile was sad and his confession honest, “He told me not to. Got one letter out through Mamie. The Brat Prince raised him and… Even if he had to sit around New Orleans for a few decades, he made me swear I wouldn’t fight the man who was my father in every meaningful sense of the word.”

The Headmaster of Hogwarts groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose, “I cannot be this unprepared for this at hundred and eleven.”

“Sweetheart... “ Percy smiled and pulled him over into his lap, “Albus, you’ve slept with two people in your entire life. One was your boy from pre-mating shenanigans… Ugh, Gary?”

“Garrick.”

“And the other was Gellert,” Percy reminded before stealing a kiss, “You haven’t even slept with me yet, despite the teenager’s commentary. All we did last night was talk and fool around!”

That was true. He still couldn’t believe Harry said that to him though. Aberforth was going to milk the comment for years without fail. Even if it wasn't accurate.

“Hey,” The vampire demanded his attention when he could tell the fae’s thoughts were wandering, “You do not have to take up with Mateo Wolff. Or anyone you don’t want to. And I won’t…”

“No, don’t,” Albus sighed and had to admit, “You two were together longer than you and Gellert. About fifty percent of your marriage to him was spent imprisoned or separated…”

Percy scoffed, “True.”

“I was just overwhelmed. I’m glad you have him back,” Albus had to admit that Percy had radiated with happiness at seeing his friends, “They’re both just…”

“Truer words have never been searched for.”

The fae laughed and kissed Percy again, “We could always go upstairs and give some validity to Harry’s snark.”

“We could do that.”

As they moved up the stairs to the bedrooms, Albus happened to look down at their clasped hands and gasped, “Oh, bloody bollocking hellfire!”

“What?” Percy demanded, spinning around, “What?”

“I forgot to give your father his ring back! He was right there and I forgot! How could I forget!?”

Dark brows pulled together, “My father gave you a ring?”

Realizing what the vampire thought, he rolled his eyes and shook his head, “No! This! I was supposed to give it back to him!”

Percy took the ring that Albus removed and looked it over. It was a lion forged for gold and decorated with rubies. From the roaring mouth holding the largest of the gems inside, two smaller for eyes, and their placement around the band, it was a gorgeous enough piece. He’d spotted it next to the younger wizard’s gold lordship ring in the shape of a phoenix, but hadn’t thought anything about it other than a brief moment of recognition from Père's stories during his boyhood.

“He gave this back to his brother,” Percy recalled with a shrug, “It lost all power when he was turned, since vampires couldn’t hold titles back then. He doesn’t want it back.”

“That is not the point,” Albus insisted, then sighed and scrubbed his face, “His brother insisted that he’d rather have his brother, vampire or not, and almost got eaten a hundred times to give that back to him! He made his descendants swear to do so and I bloody well forgot!”

“Oh, well, you’ll see him again,” Percy shrugged, already moving to head back up the stairs.

“No! You have to call him! I have to give it back, Percy!”

They managed to make it to the master bedroom, but he couldn’t resist an eye roll, “It’s not a big deal, Albus.”

“Yes, it is!”

Gellert chuckled from the window seat where he was smoking, “Just run it over to Loch Versailles, if it bothers him so much.”

He just wanted to have sex with his other mate. That’s all Percy wanted. And quite frankly didn’t think it was too much to ask after he’d spent a near century wondering what the hell he’d done wrong, only to find out it was mostly Flea’s fault!

“You want me to take this to my père?” Percy demanded, holding up the ring, “You just won’t be able to sleep tonight, if I don’t? With me or anyone else?”

“Correct.”

If he’d have known forty-eight hours ago the day he’d been waking up to… He wouldn’t do anything different, but he was debating mounting another rebellion, “Fine. I’ll be back.”

Gellert laughed at him and summoned Albus over to smoke a joint. Told him there was no reason to worry about it further, as Percy marched back down the stairs, though he did stop to throw off his suit jacket. One silencing barrier was thrown up and he flooed to Loch Versailles, his parents' old fashioned, but gorgeous mansion in Louisiana, where he’d been raised with his twin sister and best friends.

The house was empty, but his vampire hearing alerted him to the porch and he called out, “Mamie! Père!”

“Out here, darling!”

“Go away!” Was the reigning Prince of Vampire Society’s response, “We’re in the middle of something!”

More like he was trying to get in the middle of someone.

First thing he saw when he walked out on the porch was Mateo sitting sideways on the steps and head tilted back on the white column behind him, “I knew you couldn’t stay away.”

“Hmm…” Percy didn’t respond otherwise and turned to find his parents. Mamie was currently batting his mate off of him, though he also couldn’t stop laughing at the blonde’s attempts, and he decided to get his interruption over with, “Here, you cockblocking son of a bitch.”

“To whom do you refer?” Lestat demanded aghast, even as he caught whatever his son threw, “I have never cockblocked anyone a day in my life. I am an epitome of sexual encouragement.”

“Oh, Lestat…” Mamie just shook his head and looked at the ring too, “What is this?”

“And, more importantly, why are you giving it back to me? It’s the problem child’s. Be gone.”

He rolled his eyes and caught the ring when it was tossed back, but only returned the damn thing again, “The brother you left it to almost killed himself trying to give it back and find you. Made the whole Dumbledore line swear to return it.”

“I don’t want it!” Lestat insisted, trying to hand it back, “Here!”

“Père, melt the damn thing down for all I care, but I’m not taking it back with me,’ He insisted, “Now, if you’ll all excuse me, I have mates I need to get back to.”

Mat chuckled and started to get up, “I’ll walk you out.”

Percy opened his mouth to say something when his best friend was up and just a breath away, but realized quickly that he didn’t have the words. And of course Mat noticed. Even ninety two years apart couldn’t change the fact that the man knew every tick he had.

“You okay?” He demanded, one hand coming up to hold the other vampire by the neck like he always had.

And all Percy could manage was to nod, “We’ll talk about it inside. Come on.”

Though it shouldn’t have been a shock since he found out, Percy still wasn’t expecting his père’s sarcastic quip, “What? Need to go talk about mounting your next rebellion?”

“Yes,” Percy said evenly, before he even really thought about it. They hadn’t stopped fucking with one another since he eloped and it was just a natural response.

Lestat growled and stood up to get right in his son’s face, “What? You start talking to the problem child and suddenly we’re at war again?!”

“I didn’t start this!” He growled in response.

“I gave them back! I’m speaking to you!” The blonde vampire yelled, “What else can I do? Do you really hate me so much that you want to cut me out forever!?”

Louis could see the ‘yes’ on his son’s tongue as sure as it would be hissed out, maybe even in parseltongue, but he knew it wasn’t true. He’d known this was going to happen and jumped up to get between them, shoving Percy to Mateo and Lestat back on the swing, “Enough! You two don’t have anything to even fight over anymore! I’ve had enough of this!”

Both hissed and looked toward the lake stubbornly.

“Lestat, you’ve been on the boy since he became an auror in 1880, but he’s retired now. He’s got custody of Harry, which you’ve been yelling about for almost twelve years,” Louis reminded, “And, yes, he eloped, but he’s also had two kids since then, and now he’s got a third!”

Percy glared at the lake harder when green eyes swung to him, but he knew when it happened.

“And you! Yes, he took your friends away and stopped speaking to you,” Louis shrugged, “Want to hear what the rest of the world has to put up with? You got off easy compared to most!”

He looked back and forth between them and sighed, “But that’s not the point is it? You have nothing left to fight about and you still are, because it was never about that.”

The Hard Charger growled, “Issy ran off and got married! She didn't have her whole life ripped away!”

“She did run off, you’re right,” Louis chuckled, “But, darling, she’s not you. And that’s my point. You were the favorite. His. And you hurt his feelings when you did what you did.”

He turned back to his blonde mate, “And you returned fire to cut him as deeply as you could. Did it get what you wanted? Not speaking to him for four years until Flea was born? No, of course not! It just hurt more!”

Louis hissed at both of them, “You both have to stop this. You love each other. You always have. I want the days back when you two were the bane of my existence, not each other's!”

Percy wasn’t surprised when Mat grabbed his arm and tried to rub him out of his irritation. It was just too much to even talk about. None of it something he'd planned to dredge up tonight. 

Even more shocking was when Père spoke first.

“It was all girls, this family. First we had Claudia, then she had your mother. Eventually we had Eileen and then my granddaughter was pregnant with twins. I wasn’t even shocked when Issy was born a girl, but then there you came,” Lestat had given his lavender blue eyes to Percy, even if the boy was technically his great-grandson, but he still appraised them closely when the boy finally looked at him, “I spent a hundred years planning to marry you off whenever you were ready. And you just eloped!”

The Hard Charger sighed and leaned back against the column, “I didn’t think about it that way, Père. We were just laying in bed and Gellert asked what I wanted for my birthday. And I said ‘Marry me?’ because… I wanted to! It was never meant to cut you out. I never even thought that a possibility until...”

Louis knew his son was close to tears and said it for him, "Until he did it to you?"

Lestat reeled a bit as he thought that over. Percy had never told him that before. Then again, he hadn’t exactly asked, “I always thought when you finally married, it would be this one.”

Mat scoffed and kissed the corner of his best friend's mouth, “I would have said yes.”

"Well… That's what I wanted to talk to you about. Albus and I talked and… You know how different fae are from us, Mat."

"Tell me about it. Good Lord, sun driven, emotional, manipulative lot," He chuckled, "I've heard they make good lawyers though."

"Well, I'm talking about intimately."

Louis and his surrogate soon shared confused glances, but it was the older of the two who demanded, "What do you mean, darling?"

"See, Albus was overwhelmed after the party. The number of people he's ever been intimate with is much lower than we expect," Percy cut his père a look, "Especially us three heirs to the Royal Slut himself."

Mat snorted and his head dropped onto Percy's shoulder, while Lestat preened at the use of one of his favorite titles. Still the Prince of Vampire Society demanded, "How low are we talking?"

"He's had two lovers his entire life. Gellert and some boy he dated before he got his mating dream."

Both pains in his neck busted out laughing, only Mamie having the decency to keep a straight face.

"Two?" Mat demanded, "Are you sure? I've slept with more people by accident than that!"

"I've slept with more people I hate than that," Père noted.

Percy glared at him again, "And we know who was chief among that list."

"Do you want to go back to war?"

"Boys," Louis corrected, "And Mat, you probably scared the poor thing. If you're going to carry on, be a bit gentler."

"Yes, Mamie," He said it, but his eyes were rolling the entire time.

"Thank you, Mamie," Percy offered.

"Alright, fine. He's the favorite again and I'm…" Lestat seemed to be struck by something, "Wait, don't you make three?"

The Hard Charger snorted and broke for the fireplace, "Hence why you're a cockblocking son of a bitch."

"Oh," Mat realized, "My bad. Can't play with him before you do. Had a similar rule with Gellert as I recall."

That made everyone chuckle and they managed to see him off fairly quickly. He heard the wolves howl somewhere in the woods beyond Loch Versailles' lake and hugged everyone goodbye. It was too bad that the Nans hadn't made it to the party; Harry would have loved their familiars.

Getting back to Nurmengard he checked on the kids and they were all still fast asleep. So were the young adults, which he would continue to call Jimmy's generation until they hit forty without fail. So, he booked it for his room.

He had his shirt off by the time he made it back to the bedroom and couldn't stop a hiss when he opened the door. It was a lovely vision, sure. Gellert was curled up on their fire fae mate's chest in the middle of the bed and Albus had him pulled in close, both in nothing but their pajama pants.

Problem was they were both fast asleep.

Percy just threw his shirt into the hamper and marched to take a cold shower.


	4. Chapter 4

The next couple days seemed a bit like a blur after the fact. He slept like a rock that night and none of his fellow teenagers managed to drag themselves from bed before noon. But, he did slowly start to believe that Grandpa Percy showing up hadn’t been a dream.

By the time Monday came around, however, everyone was anxious to start formulating where they’d all be going from Nurmengard. There was a slight squabble over who was taking Harry, because he learned quickly that Sirius took his status as godfather very seriously, but the Hard Charger didn’t seem open to negotiation about the teenager staying with him. When Pops finally suggested they leave it to Harry, he was just as torn as the adults.

He wanted to get to know his father’s best friends, even if he wasn’t disclosing that he’d already figured out they created the Marauder’s Map that the twins had from their use of nicknames, but he also didn’t want to leave his grandfather. And the vampire moved to assure him that he didn’t have to choose as soon as he saw Harry getting upset. They were a family again and there wasn’t a choice to be made.

Admitting that he owned the empty lot next to the old Black house in Hogsmeade changed the playing field. Grandpa Abby already wanted his son and Aunt Cissy to bring Draco there, so Grandpa Albus suggested they just stay in his apartment in Hogwarts, until there was time to actually build a house on the lot in the magical village. And that led to their next issue.

As an all magical village, they couldn’t bring Aunt Petunia or Dudley there full time, simply because she wouldn’t have access to the things she needed. She’d agreed to undergo mind healing under Aunt Cissy’s care, along with Dudley, so they wanted her somewhere that wouldn’t further isolate her from their family. It took a while, but finally they breached the suggestion that Harry thought the lot had been avoiding as much as possible.

Godric’s Hollow.

Apparently the Headmaster hadn’t had the old family house rebuilt after his parents’ deaths, nor would he ever put Petunia there. But, Oma Hilda owned an apartment building right beside her house. That would keep them near family and in a community as equally muggle as magical.

It also led to Harry visiting his parents graves for the first time. He went with Pops and Grandpa Percy to get them settled in their new apartment and got to see the village for the first time. It was a nice enough summer day and they chatted for a bit about the house ruins and the statue in the center of the town. Though the experience was a bit overwhelming, Harry was glad to have finally gotten to go.

To have more than just the name of the town where his parents died.

He couldn’t help but wonder about what the place had looked like when his fae grandparents were growing up here though. So, it led to them being asked a million questions when he got home.

The small three bedroom apartment was easy enough to set up with magic and Aunt Petunia was starting a job at the local bakery. Dudley was enrolled in school and also looking into the local Quidditch team as he’d fallen for the sport vehemently after only a couple of days with Harry and Draco. Once they had their schedule with Cissy completed for mind healing, Grandpa Percy corralled Harry to their portkey heading for Hogsmeade.

While the Black family was getting moved into their old house in the village, Remus was getting settled into his new apartment. Neville had dreaded being sent back to his grandmother, so the werewolf wound up promising that his godson had a place in his apartment, and they were also making up his room there. Harry waved to both of his friends when he passed them on the way to the Headmaster’s suite.

Pops dropped them off at the gargoyle and also told Harry where his apartments were, along with the password to get in. It wasn’t permission to run amuck in them, however. He made that perfectly clear.

“Chocolate frogs,” Percy offered to the gargoyle after his nephew left them to get settled, “Are you sure you don’t want to do a few sessions with Aunt Cissy?”

“Grandpa, she cleared me,” Harry insisted, “Let it go.”

“Alright,” He chuckled as they moved up the stairs, “Have you responded to the Weasleys’ letters yet?”

“Yep! They get back today and want to go school shopping tomorrow,” Harry disclosed, “And they accused me of waiting to have all the fun until they went out of town.”

“Sure, because the last three days have been such a thrill,” Percy rolled his eyes.

The Hard Charger wasn’t trying to downplay the good parts. He’d gotten custody of Harry, and Sirius was innocent, and he had his vampire family back in his life without reservation. But, he was also exhausted from reckoning Tom Riddle and sexually frustrated from getting cockblocked at every turn.

He wasn’t supposed to have more sex while working a demanding job, then he did after retirement. It had been a day since putting in his letter of resignation though and he couldn’t find an hour alone with either of his mates. By the time the terrible twosome woke up the day before all the kids were up and then they’d been trying to plan everyone’s moves for today.

Albus had left last night, needing to get back to Hogwarts both to get ready for their arrival and to make sure the coming school year was on track, and Gel wound up getting a migraine from communicating via their sight with Tanté over such a long distance for Petunia. The universe was against him getting laid. Percy was beginning to think that this was a punishment for leaving Harry to his own devices for so long.

“You just took out a Dark Lord piece by piece!” Harry declared, "You're officially the coolest person in the world! I'd be disappointed if I'd missed it too!"

Percy laughed and threw an arm over his shoulders, "Well, you were the catalyst."

When they got up the stairs there was another portrait guarding the Headmaster suite, hosting a teenage girl with blonde hair and green eyes, who beamed at them brightly, "Albie told me you were coming!"

"Hi, Ariana," Harry offered with a wave. He'd seen her around the Hog's Head when they snuck down there, but he hadn't ever gotten to speak before.

"Hello, Harry," She turned to take in the Hard Charger, "And you're Henry!"

Percy laughed, "I go by my middle name, actually. It's Percy."

Harry offered her the password and bounced inside, utterly unsurprised when the Headmaster’s suite was as charming as Grandpa Albus’ office. There was a ton of seating in tan leather, including two couches, loveseats, and recliners, along with a series of barstools at the wet bar in the corner. Just like the sphere office, this place was lined with moving pictures and portraits that waved to him, as well as a rainbow plethora of light baubles.

The carpet was a soft golish color that Harry was certain they sunk into by an inch when they entered. There were also gold lamps with red shades on all the inn tables and the coffee table near the gold stone fireplace was the same dark wood as them and the bar. In addition there was a desk in the living area housing the Headmaster at the moment, though he was arguing with his deputy when they came in, who was pulled up in another chair.

"...ave been right about that, but this time you've lost your marbles, Minerva!" He was insisting, "I am not giving a thirteen year old a time turner!"

"Granger's very responsible!"

"No!"

Harry realized what it was about. Hermione simply couldn't decide on her electives and signed up for everything. Clearly that wasn't happening the way she'd planned.

"You've already got this one maxed out," Albus gestured to Harry, "He has no business keeping Flying when he's already on the team!"

She waved him off as only McGonagall could, "He's within the limits and doesn't have homework from it. Now you're nitpicking."

"Yeah!" Harry put in enthusiastically.

Albus sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "That's eighteen hours in class! I'm not even going to talk about Hermione until you get her down to that."

"I'll write Ms. Granger," She conceded, "It was just an idea. But, you have to let him stay busy. Quidditch is his only club."

"It's okay, Professor," Harry directed the comment at his Head of House, but set the side of his grandfather's head with an even look, "I'm sure I can find other ways to occupy my time."

Albus looked over at him and appraised the teenager, "Are you threatening me?"

Percy chuckled, "Certainly sounded that way."

Minerva tried to hide her grin behind a well placed hand, but was largely unsuccessful.

Rolling his eyes, the Headmaster signed off on his grandson having three electives and waved the schedule at him, "Keep your damn class. You can see Gellert's influence a mile off!"

Harry abandoned his place under Grandpa Percy's arm and snatched the schedule, even as the siren yelled that he heard that from up a hallway. From the desk he had a better view into the kitchen, with it's off-white stone floor, and light wood cabinetry. It was all a pretty enough set up, even if he wasn’t quite sure being here wasn’t a dream.

His schedule worked out fairly well and he decided to block off Monday afternoons to get all of his work done for the coming week, because if he got it done then he had Fridays off despite having three electives, as well as having everyday after seven free… minus Astronomy. That class was always a pain in the neck.

“Did you father talk to you about your Wolfsbane?”

“Yep. He sent it in for trials,” Harry explained as he was penciling in his study periods. He’d managed to get a pen from Grandpa Percy and the mail order information for an American stationery company that the vampire owned, “I know you have to, but he already gave it to Remus.”

“Well, he’s been creating potions for a long time,” Albus noted, “And completing safety trials for them. He knows when something is going to work these days.”

“Any luck with the Ministry?” Percy inquired.

“They agreed to be rid of the dementors,” The Headmaster shrugged, “But there is a real threat of reform and resurgence from Death Eaters. They’re being right tossers about anyone bearing the mark and going to cause the worst of it.”

“How many aurors are they stationing on campus?” The vampire demanded.

“Only two for now. At least it’s Kingsley and Nymphadora,” McGonagall put in.

“She’s Moony’s mate, right?” Harry popped up at the name and recalled all the ribbing he’d heard between his dad’s best friends the last couple of days in Nurmengard.

“Not that he’s dealing with it,” The witch waved him off.

“Grandpa Gel is decorating your room,” His fae grandfather changed the subject, “Why don’t you go speed things up by offering an opinion?”

Excited, Harry tore from the room and up the hall where he’d heard his grandfather’s voice, stopping to look in all three rooms. The one at the very end of the hall looked like the master and reminded him already of his grandparents’ room in Nurmengard, since they’d already settled their things there, and the other room to the left was surprisingly cast in a lot of green, silver, and dark wood. The last room, to the right, was where he found his siren grandfather.

And other than ‘change nothing,’ Harry didn’t have much of an opinion. 

It was utterly gorgeous. 

The walls were a basic goldish tan and every one had a large magical depiction moving on them. On the wall across from the door was an image of an American Turul that spanned from the center and erupted in a gorgeous array of black flames and mist; in the far left corner was a doorway that led into a bathroom. Then on the wall to his right, situated between a desk and dresser, was a depiction of Fawkes in scarlet and erupting into gold flames. A chest of drawers was on the one side of the wall housing the door, its depiction a Hungarian Horntail, which Harry had confessed to being his favorite dragon, and it was breathing fire while brandishing that dangerous tail threateningly.

“Woah,” Was all that he managed to get out as he took in the room.

On the last wall, housing his bed, was a smaller image, but it was probably his favorite. It was centered right over his bed and looked just like Grandpa Percy’s back tattoo. Which was an image he’d already sworn to copying somehow. The horned serpent wrapped around a wampus was something he couldn’t wait to get put on him.

“Like it, Little Prince?” Gellert demanded from his station in the center of the room.

“It’s perfect.”

Hedwig shrieked and flew over from her place on his bed. It was not her typical hoot and Harry pet her when she landed on his shoulder, “What’s the matter, Iggy?”

She shrieked again and glared at the phoenix on his wall.

“What?” Harry thought about it for a moment, “Do you want to be on the wall instead?”

Gellert chuckled, “Well, I suppose it’s only right.”

The Boy Who Lived laughed and watched as the siren altered the image. It only took a few minutes and then a snowy old was taking up residence on the wall instead of a phoenix. Unfortunately that didn’t seem to make Hedwig any happier at all.

In fact, it only made her worse. Harry jumped when she bent over and started chomping and tugging viciously on the anklet that Hagrid had gotten her when he was eleven. Normally she hated it when anyone messed with it, but at the moment she seemed to want it off more than anything. He hurried to grab her, “Stop! Stop! I’ll take it off! What’s gotten into you, girl?”

The Liberator wandered over to hold her while his grandson took the anklet off, “That’s not much like her. She’s always very friendly when she brings your letters to Nurmengard.”

“I know,” Harry admitted, a little nervous.

It was simple enough to unclip the anklet decoration and Gellert let the owl go when she moved to fly off into the room. His grandson jumped when a sort of fog started to surround her, but the siren grabbed him when the teenager moved to grab her, “Wait a moment. Don’t just go reaching in there.”

“Grandpa, what…”

“I’m not sure,” He had to confess, so they both watched as after a minute the mist began to dissipate.

“Iggy!”

“Oh, fuck,” Gellert noted as his grandson took off to scoop up the snow white phoenix that had been left behind, “Albus, get in here!”

“What?” The Headmaster demanded as he was already turning into Harry’s room, probably summoned by their grandson’s shouts, along with Percy, “Oh, bloody hell!”

They all just watched as Harry held the phoenix close and she snuggled under his chin. Her eyes flared green, instead of gold, when they stopped to look at one another in a way that only happened with familiars. The Boy Who Lived jumped when he was able to share thoughts with her, but Grandpa Percy assured it was normal.

“Did you know about this?” Albus demanded, even as Gellert’s biggest concern was fixing the wall to show the Snow Phoenix, rather than an owl.

“Not a clue,” Harry insisted, “No wonder she’s so much friendlier than an owl.”

“Hmm… We’ll be having a talk with Hagrid about this,” He noted, but pet the phoenix, “Where is your wand?”

“Uhh,” The younger Gryffindor wasn’t expecting the change in topic and pulled it from his back pocket, “Here?”

“You can’t use it anymore, because it has Fawkes’ tail feather,” Albus explained a bit about phoenix familiars being vain and territorial, which Harry seemed to think explained the reaction to his wall, and he agreed not to do any magic until they could get him to Ollivander’s the next day. The Headmaster was about to suggest he go and show his father the new familiar in the family, but they were all halted by the sound of the floo firing.

“Percy!”

“Mat? We’re back here!”

It only took a moment for the vampire to track them into Harry’s room and he whistled, “Impressive, Little Prince.”

“Thanks, Mr. Wolff.”

His best friend looked positively scandalized and Percy wound up laughing so hard he fell onto Harry’s bed. The man who looked so much like Harry would in a few years finally scoffed, “Call me ‘Tio Lobo’ like your dad, Little Prince, or almost anything else. Mr. Wolff was my father and he’s dead now, I’m happy to report.”

Harry laughed and agreed.

“Still proclaiming you had nothing to do with that?” Percy asked as he sat up, still chuckling.

“Hush,” Mateo insisted, then pet the new phoenix, “Where did this lovely lady come from?”

“It’s Hedwig, my owl,” Harry explained, “Only she’s… Not.”

“Well, you might not have gotten the typical birthday gifts this year, but you’re making up for it now,” The vampire noted with a laugh, “That’s why I came over here, actually.”

“What are you on about?” Percy demanded while rising back to his full height.

His best friend shrugged, “Since the Brat Prince decided to stop being a jackal, I decided to go down to Madre’s place in Brazil with the Nans. I ran into an old friend of yours, Little Prince.”   
  


Harry perked up utterly confused, “Who?”

“A Boa constrictor named Coatl,” He elaborated, “Said you freed him from a zoo at ten.”

“He made it!” Harry exclaimed, thrilled for the first snake he’d ever talked to. He’d worried that the big guy would be recaptured and thrown back into captivity.

“Indeed,” Mat noted, pulling his black feather decorations, of the three which had their rachis and calamus painted red, green, and gold respectively, back from his face along with his hair, “But, he came to Nana Isolt trying to find a way back to London.”.

“Why?”

“Well, see, he’s not just a regular boa constrictor. Turns out that he had a horned serpent ancestor and coming into contact with your magic triggered his dormant Rainboa nature.”

“Oh, dear,” Gellert pinched the bridge of his nose.

The teenager standing between the four of them was still befuddled, “Rainboa?”

“Descendants of magical snakes that interbred with muggle species have their own names,” Mat explained generally, “You weren’t aware of your magic at the time and didn’t recognize him as one of your familiars.”

“Is he okay?!” Harry demanded.

“He’ll be fine,” Mat promised, “Nana is about to bring him through. She just wanted me to warn all of you first.”

“Why don’t we just give him a whole menagerie?” Albus demanded with a huff.

“Didn't you make Newt his case?” Percy demanded, “Besides, it’s just two.”

“For now,” Mat chuckled.

“Hmm?”

He shrugged in his best friend’s direction, “Morana laid two eggs.”

“Oh, Merlin.”

“Really?” Harry bounced at his elbow and Mateo had to grin at his enthusiasm.

“Really, Mijo....” He was stopped by the floo firing once more, “Might as well go reunite with the big guy.”

Harry tore from the room excited and the adults followed quickly. Skidding back into the living room, McGonagall was still there waiting, and seemed surprised when Hedwig came flying out over his head. The witch only rolled her eyes after a moment to take in the sight though.

When the emerald smoke cleared the woman left behind was proof that his father was an heir to Pépère through the Prince line, because she was his feminine counterpart. Not overly tall, she was thin and willow, with onyx hair and eyes, as well as cheekbones he was pretty sure could cut a steak. The smile she offered as soon as she spotted him was much gentler than the Potions Master would ever offer though and cut the intimidating sight of the Boa constrictor wrapped around her.

Only he didn’t look the same as the last time that Harry had seen him. Rather than the brownish and grey coloration that he’d had in the zoo, now the top of his head was bright with the shiniest scales that sparkled in a rainbow gradient. He still sounded the same, however, when he slithered down from the witch and vampiress that Harry had heard of at his birthday party.

_ “Amigo!” _

_ “Hey!”  _ Harry bent down to stoke his head and snickered when the snake hissed his forked tongue right over the Gryffindor’s nose,  _ “How wasss Brazil?” _

_ “It would have been better if you were there,”  _ The snake admitted, already wrapping himself around the teenager to end up resting atop his head with the serpent’s own.

After what happened with Hedwig in the bedroom, Harry realized that he did feel his magic stir at the snake’s presence, “This is so great!”

“They’re quite impressive,” McGonagall noted, petting Hedwig where the phoenix had landed on the desk next to her, both of them looking almost exactly as they had when the Transfiguration professor gave Harry his Nimbus 2000.

“We don't have a habitat here for him," Gellert noted, "He'll at least need a heating rock."

"I can run home and grab an enclosure," The dark witch offered.

"Harry, this is your Nana Isolt," Percy put in first, "Nana, Harry."

"Hello, Little Prince," She beamed at him, "I can't believe how much you've grown up."

He hugged her, though it was a little awkward with Coatl still wrapped around him, and they chatted pleasantly about both of his new familiars. Harry learned that she was the original founder of Ilvermorny, who lost her muggle husband centuries ago, and then married siren and witch, Violetta Beauvais, before settling to have her daughters, Claudia and Eileen, with Pépère and Mamie. The Nans were always on the go, however, which was why they hadn't gotten notice about the party in time to get there.

"I don't think there is any need to do all that running," Grandpa Albus noted, "I'm sure Severus had something that would do in the dungeons."

"Oh, good," Nana smiled, "I haven't seen my grandson in far too long."

She turned with Harry to leave when McGonagall offered to show them the way, then ordered Tio Lobo to walk them out. Harry was confused when the man objected, but he was drug out of the Headmaster's suite by the ear regardless, and fell in step with them as soon as the portrait closed. Hedwig was perched on her favorite lioness as they descended on the magical staircases and he also learned that it was Nana's first time on Hogwarts despite her being a descendant of Slytherin.

Apparently she'd left Europe to escape an extremist pureblood family and hadn't gotten to attend school because of them. All the more the Gryffindors told her everything they knew about the castle as they descended and weren't in too great a hurry to get to Slytherin Dungeon. They went through the Great Hall and decided to go down to Hagrid's once they knew if the Potions Master had what they needed.

On their way down from the entryway, Remus spotted them as he was bringing Neville down on a staircase and shouted out for them to hold on, which led to Harry excitedly introducing both of them to his familiars. Or reintroducing them in Iggy's case. The Longbottom heir was a bit nervous about the large serpent, but his friend promised the familiar was friendly and Coatl even flicked him on the nose with his tongue too.

The new Defense professor was excited to hear about the last hour and insisted they should go show the Blacks in Hogsmeade too. Harry was worried about letting his grandparents know, but McGonagall offered to do so. She sent a patronus to the Deathly Trio, a spell he was instantly curious about, and then sent Mateo onto the village with Remus and Neville to wait on them, before saying she wanted a word with Hagrid before he brought his familiars down and took off with Hedwig.

So, Harry led his some number of greats grandmother into Slytherin Dungeon and followed his father's instructions to the professor's rooms. They were just where he described, guarded by a sallower looking woman, though she still greatly resembled the fierce witch next to him. That didn't mean he made the connection until the portrait's eyes blew wide and Nana spoke.

Clipped and flat as her one word greeting was, "Daughter."

"M… Mother."

"Oh, hi!" Harry offered at realizing this was Pop's mother.

"Hello, Little Prince."

"Huckleberry," He offered her, "We need to see Pops. I found my familiar, but I don't have a habitat for him."

"Oh, well, you're welcome to go in with the password, dear," She explained gently, "But he's actually behind the gargoyle in his office."

"Oh… He didn't…"

"I can go and get him," Grandma Eileen offered.

But, her mother rolled her eyes and turned to the statue, "Tombstone."

Harry was surprised when the wall automatically began to rise and he looked up at her inquisitively. Isolt only smiled down at the teenager and explained, "It's a movie that hasn't come out yet, but your dad used to watch it with his sight avidly. Come along, dear. Your friends are waiting."

They got up the stairs and his father did a double take at the sight from behind his cauldron, "Interesting afternoon?"

"The most!" Harry quipped,  _ "Thisss isss Coatl. My rainboa familiar." _

_ "A pleasure,"  _ Severus offered, but the snake was already moving off of Harry and heading toward his collection of snakes from which he collected rare ingredients, "Am I to assume he needs a habitat?"

"Yep!"

"Very well," Throwing a preservation on his commission, Severus waved them over toward his older terrariums that were still in good condition, "Nana."

"Hello, darling," She ran a hand through Harry's hair, "You certainly managed to have an impressive offspring in this one."

The Potions Master hummed, "He has his moments."

Harry rolled his eyes behind the vampire's back, but spun around when he heard more hissing behind him. There was a three headed snake that was free in the lab and talking to his rainboa, "Who is that?"

"My familiar, Medusa."

"Wicked."

They looked through the options for a while and Harry finally settled on one of the larger habitats that only had a small pond in the bottom. He was mostly worried about Coatl feeling like he was trapped again and wanted to be able to leave the sliding glass door open. Those with larger water features only had top openings and he didn't want the snake to feel claustrophobic.

Severus gave his son food for the night and sent the setup back to the Headmaster's suite with the boy's friend Dobby after learning that Harry was wandless for the moment. They did a basic lesson on snake care and the Gryffindor explained to his new familiar that House Elves were friends, not food. Though they also talked about the fact that he could go hunting in the Forbidden Forest if he wanted to.

Coatl felt better about the fact that none of the snakes in the lab felt like prisoners by the time they left and slithered next to Harry and Nana when they finally let his father go back to his commissions. Hogwarts was an amazing experience for both the Ilvermorny founder and snake when they were finally outside to take in the castle and grounds. The Boy Who Lived was still in awe of it himself, even after two years.

Bouncing down the lane to Hagrid's, he was glad that McGonagall didn't seem to be yelling at his friend when they got there, Hedwig having left the witch for their new Care of Magical Creatures professor. He skidded down the hill, stopping right by them, "Hello, Professors!"

"There ya are, Harry!" Hagrid declared, "Heard it was a busy birthday this year!"

"That's one way to put it," He acknowledged, hugging his friend before pointing to Iggy, "Why didn't you tell me?! I would have called the ginger on his crap a lot sooner!"

"Well, they was plottin' and I didn' wanna get ya in trouble."

Harry snorted, "It's hard to even find trouble when the Hard Charger shows up."

"Never a wizard ya'd find ol' Hagrid crossin'," His friend agreed, "Now, who's this han'some fella?"

Minerva let them have their moment and her little lion was so excited to show off his familiars. He quickly agreed to let Hagrid show them off in classes and they talked about what was coming up in the approaching school year. The boy was relieved to hear about how to charm his new book for class and after half an hour she excused them to get into Hogsmeade.

She hadn't expected Remus and Sirius to be as enthusiastic about the snake, Coatl, as Harry kept telling her. But, much to her surprise, her son and his best friend had changed in the last couple of days. Severus spoke of it a bit upon his return; their time in Nurmengard and on the same team for once due to Petunia's presence.

It was just that the change was so stark.

They weren't best friends by any means, still calling one another names and taking childish jabs, however they weren't truly trying to hurt one another anymore. She had wanted the lot to grow up since James got his mating dreams at fifteen, but they'd struggled. And the witch hated the path they'd taken to adulthood, even if she was relieved to see the outcome.

Both talked to the snake through Harry and smiled politely at Draco's flamboyant and raw enthusiasm over the animal. They fawned over Hedwig as well and Sirius promised his son that they'd stop by the Menagerie the next day when they went shopping. She let them chat for a couple hours, Cissy fed them dinner, and then the lioness suggested that the boys go enjoy a couple of drinks at the Hog's Head.

Narcissa was a bit nervous to let them go, but Sirius just laughed, "They're going to the old man's place. Let them have some fun!"

The blonde witch sighed and insisted upon her expectation that all three come home on their own two feet.

Remus went back up to the castle and promised to send a patronus to the Deathly Trio, but Mateo Wolff wouldn't be shrugged off from this adventure after Lady Isolt dragged him out of the Headmaster's suite. The witch went home after telling the wolf to be responsible. And only having heard of the vampire through James over the years, Minerva was surprised when he pretty much left her to date night with Abby in their booth, then spent the night amusing all three teenagers.

She would have expected him to leave them to their own devices and seduce half the bar. James may have only seen the man when he was allowed to visit his grandparents during the summer, but it's where he'd gotten his entire approach to flirting. Or so the animagus had always thought.

"Perhaps he's mellowed with age?"

"The Original Wolf of Wall Street?" Abby laughed, "I don't think so. He was straight up propositioning Percy and the Fiend at the kids' party. Looked like he would have gone for Albus too."

"Hmm…"

Gellert shook his head as the portrait closed and he realized quickly that Albus' work wife was playing the long game, "Harry's out of the suite until ten."

Albus looked over at him, scarlet brows drawing together, "How do you figure? He's running down to Sev's."

"Yeah, but your deputy is trying to get you laid… And maybe figure out what Mat's deal is."

Percy snickered, "Best of luck to her there."

The Headmaster rolled his eyes at his best friend's meddling, but he was also grateful. The last couple of days had been full of so much change and they all needed a break to settle. So, the three of them changed into pajamas and were having drinks at the bar when Dobby arrived with Harry's terrarium.

He wasn't even shocked when the house elf went above and beyond for Harry, making sure the older habitat looked as natural as possible, so it wasn't another cage. At one point Percy took his drink into Harry's room and helped Dobby take off the sliding glass door completely. Once it was set up the free elf left and they wound up making dinner quickly, before going to snuggle in bed and watch a movie.

Maybe part of Albus still couldn't fathom how easy being in bed with Percy and Gellert was. He'd spent so long resisting the urge to open his mating bonds that the other side of the coin was overwhelming. After the fact he wasn't even sure when they went from watching the movie to seducing him, but it sure as sin happened.

It had been sometime around the moment he was speculating on Harry fighting him tooth and nail for the next five years, "First it's the schedule, then he'll start sneaking out, and the next thing we know he'll be shacked up in an off campus apartment with a mating block harem."

Percy absolutely died laughing, "Sounds just like Jimmy."

Gellert huffed where he was curled up between them, legs strone over Percy's and his head pillowed on the fae's thigh, "You didn't fight him on his grandeur. Just let the boy have his way."

Albus snorted, "His way involved a horcrux hunt and teenagers challenging Death Eaters." Then he couldn't help but mutter petulantly, "I still can't believe you called him 'Jimmy'."

"You caused it," The vampire commented before he thought better of it and then he had to answer to the inquisitive looks from both of his mates, "You remember that Crisis Response Conference in '74? When Ori and I called him that in the elevator?"

"Sure, it was the first time I'd ever heard it."

"Well… It was also the first time we'd used it too. And only because it bugged the shit out of you," He confessed, grinning like a school boy.

"You pieces of shit!" He shoved the larger man and Gellert rolled to get out of their way, so he wound up straddling the Head Charger as they tussled.

"I was having a bad day," Percy admitted when they stopped, both hands locking with the Chief Warlock's, "And Ori was just trying to make me feel better."

Sitting back against his knees, Albus sighed, "You were usually so relentless in trying to make me speak to you. I should have realized you were screwing with me."

Then the vampire had leaned up to steal a kiss and the next thing he knew all three of them were naked. It was certainly worth every moment of the decades spent resisting, even if he wished it hadn't taken so long. Albus wound up having Gellert while Percy had him, then when they all finally came hours later neither he nor the siren could keep their eyes open .

Percy waited until they both fell asleep before taking a quick shower and redressing. It was approaching ten and he guessed Abby would send the boys out of the tavern prior to the real drunks taking over then. Luckily, since he didn't have his cars to work on, an owl had arrived and dropped off Harry's new Firebolt, so he worked on customizing that.

It took another half an hour, but sure enough McGonagall dropped Harry off at the portrait. They both seemed to be enjoying the night and interacting outside of school, "...uff could knock out a dragon. Merlin's balls!"

"Well, he should have warned you," She seemed to be agreeing, "Thirteen year olds do not have the same tolerance as century old wizards."

"It was still better warm. I don't care what the blonde menace says."

"You take after Albus that way."

"If you're going to get nasty, then I'll just leave."

Percy heard her laugh outside the portrait and had to grin himself.

"Goodnight, Harry," She closed out their night of fun, "Drink plenty of water."

"Night, Professor."

He got the distinct impression there was a hug involved before his grandson bounced inside, glassy eyed but steady on his feet, and he beamed at the sight of the broom as he waited for Coatl to slither inside, "Hi, Grandpa."

"Hey," He watched Hedwig abandon her human's shoulder for a spot on Fawkes' perch with him, "He let you try the Phoenix House Wine?"

"Wine my arse," Was the response as Harry plopped down on the sofa and snuggled under his arm.

Though he laughed, the vampire also summoned a large glass of water from the kitchen and a potion from the medicine cabinet, "Here. Avoid a hangover."

“Thanks,” Harry drank his water and they talked about the modifications on the broom for a bit, before he confessed to wanting a shower and went take one before bed. Walking into his room though, he wasn’t expecting the entire wall surrounding the turl image and leading into the bathroom to have been transformed into a tropical rainforest.

Vampires didn’t sleep more than a couple of hours a week, but most did shut down a few hours every night to kill time, so Percy had been about to light a cigar before going to lay down himself when he heard Harry’s exclamation. He hadn’t gone to see what the house elf managed with the terrarium after getting the door off, but damn if he didn’t have to give the little guy all the credit in the world, “Certainly did right by you, Little Prince.”

“Yeah,” Harry agreed.

One could barely see the enclosure, it was surrounded by the illusion of different trees, covered in vines, flower blossoms, and charmed frogs colored to look like poisonous dart frogs, but which Harry would guess were really chocolate frogs underneath the bright colors. Coatl took off to explore the trees and found them sturdy enough for him to climb, even enabling him to attempt hunting the frogs if he wanted.

Harry and his grandfather checked out the terrarium and it had a heated rock and fresh water in the pool. Grandpa Percy promised they’d find a bigger water feature the next day and change it out for a new habitat, but leave the rest of Dobby’s hard work alone. Hedwig enjoyed flying up into the trees too and they were able to mark a perch off their list for the next day.

And his friend had managed to have the branches of the intertwining trees to form a circle around the American turul, rather than covering it up. His other grandfathers would certainly be surprised when they woke up the next morning. But, soon Harry was sent to shower and actually get to bed.

It was the best night of sleep he’d ever had and the next morning he hurried through getting ready, excited to see all the Weasleys in Diagon Alley and tell them everything that had happened outside of the Prophet’s articles. Didn’t take long to decide on his favorite jeans and then he went looking for his green dress shirt, since Grandpa Gel had unpacked his trunk. Something Harry never did at the Dursleys, even before Marge.

His closet was color coded… Harry wasn’t sure how to feel about that. It did suddenly strike him that the siren had been serious about building up his wardrobe, however, because he’d thought the comment was a joke the day before. And the door next to Hedwig’s depiction led to a small room that was only a quarter full.

Draco might have advice on how to face that obstacle. There had never been any illusion of clothes shopping at the Dursleys. So, Harry had no idea what he was doing.

When he grabbed his shirt though, there was one article of clothing that caught his attention. It was a leather jacket. Not a normal one, but a shinier material that looked just like the coat the Hard Charger had taken to wearing the last couple of days since retirement, in place of the infamous trench coat.

Pulling it out for inspection, it was softer than typical leather, two exterior pockets, as well as two on the inside. And there was a lion stitched in gold on the interior of the back, but it didn’t go through to the outside. His magic tingled just a bit when touching it and it was actually too big for him.

Grandpa Percy had cracked his door the night before, but Harry wasn’t quite sure what the rules about it were, and he was a little nervous to ask. He hadn’t even had a door on Privet Drive, even once he’d managed to escape the cupboard. Put together, it was no surprise when he jumped at someone knocking.

“Harry, son, you’ve gotta get up. We need to…” Percy was honestly shocked when the teenager was up and dressed, “Oh, good morning.”

“Hey, Grandpa,” Harry held the jacket up, “What’s this?”

He made his way over and took the coat from the teenager, “This was your dad’s. It’s yours now. Here.”

Putting the jacket on him, it immediately resized to fit the third year and unable to bear the temptation he tried to engage with the magic within the artifact. Percy laughed when he gasped at disappearing and told him the story of ripping two corners off the invisibility cloak in his own childhood, “Now, make sure you can come out of it.”

When Harry did they hurried to breakfast and his other grandparents were quick to ask about his first time drinking. The ginger was scandalized that his brother had let them into what was basically moonshine, but they hadn’t truly even been drunk. And the younger Gryffindor left out the fun fact that Grandpa Abby had given each of them a pint to take home, which he currently had in his mum’s totem.

He did tell them about the innkeep spotting the necklace the night before, because he didn’t want them to be as shocked as the barman had been. Disclosing that the tungsten turul with diamonds for eyes and a white gold deathly hallows symbols in its rib cage turned into his dad’s letter, while the gold lion with rubies for its mane and eyes transfigured into his mum’s, they were surprised, but took it well enough. All three encouraged him to show the totems to his father, since the Potions Master thought them lost upon his mates’ deaths, and Harry agreed before being sent off to brush his teeth.

“What teenager gets themself up and ready?” Gellert sniffed, “Jamie was an uphill battle from thirteen to fifteen without fail.”

“He’s got too much of Lily in him,” Albus grinned, “She couldn’t sit still either.”

“Hmm…”

“What?” Gellert demanded immediately.

Percy arched a brow at him, “What?”

“That’s your disagreement hum,” The siren called his husband out quickly, “What?”

“I do not have a disagreement hum.”

“You just did it,” The blonde insisted, gesturing to his was a flippant wave, “Now, what?”

He rolled his eyes, but answered anyway, “I just don’t think it’s only him taking after Little Copper.”

“Why?”

“He’s not shielding from me as much anymore,” The vampire explained, “I can’t get into his head by any means, but he’s no longer being so careful around us that he’s like a walking tabula rasa. Throw away thoughts I can pick up on.”

“Alright?” Albus prompted him to continue.

The Hard Charger sighed, “He didn’t even have a bedroom door at the Dursleys and he’s nervous to even ask us about the rules there.”

Gellert hissed and stomped around the kitchen to start cleaning up from breakfast, “I have more respect for cattle. You ate him too quickly.”

“I agree with you,” The vampire noted.

“Should we bring it up? Maybe he does still need to see Cissy.”

That pulled a sigh from the oldest wizard, because he knew how Harry would react to the fae’s suggestion and it would not be with agreement, “No, then he’ll really pull away from us… It’s been a long couple of days. Let’s give him some time. So he’ll know we’re nothing like Dursley.”

“Not a high bar to reach,” The previous Dark Lord insisted, well aware of the irony that was the comment coming from him.

They halted the conversation when Harry came back in with Coatl and Hedwig, hissing pleasantly to the snake about where they were going that day, as well as making sure the rainboa knew when he’d be back. The serpent seemed content enough, from what Percy could tell, to explore the vast grounds and he seemed to be developing nicely with Harry’s magic to feed on. It might have only been a matter of hours, but the shining rainbow scales of his head had grown downward by about a foot and would soon cover his entire top half in intricate designs.

Percy went through to Diagon Alley first, then Harry followed through the floo, and then his mates. Half the reporters having lunch in the Leaky Cauldron looked like they were weighing their options and debating if one picture was worth their life. Luckily they decided it wasn’t and minded their own business; he hadn’t woken up today wanting to be a bastard, but he wasn’t above it.

Spotting the Weasley crew was no problem with their bright red hair and they were waiting just outside of the pub with Harry’s muggle born friend, Hermione, and her parents. The Boy Who Lived and his best friend collided, both checking on one another in a hurry after Pettigrew’s arrest and the Prophet’s coverage of Riddle's descent into extinction. Eventually older boys, twins from the looks of it, muscled their way in on the reunion, as well as the only girl in the lot.

Percy was sure she was relieved to hear that Riddle was gone for good after what she’d endured the year before. And Albus was quick to introduce his mates to Molly and Arthur. The vampire thanked them for looking out for Harry so much the last two years and was thrilled to meet all of Harry’s friends when the teenagers finally recalled they had families.

Fred and George were a real riot. Especially when they turned on Albus upon Percy’s introduction to the Weasley that shared his name. Apparently the boy had been named Head Boy of Hogwarts and they were outraged.

“How could you do this to us?!”

“There’s no living with him already!”

“Now it’s just obnoxious.”

“There will be consequences, sir!”

“There will be consequences!”

“Come now, boys,” Albus placated, “He’s more than earned the title. Congratulations, Percy.”

“Thank you, Headmaster!”

Both twins gagged and Lord Potter noted that Fred was a wee bit taller than his brother. As they all got moving to shopping with the arrival of the Blacks and Remus with Neville, he also noted that Fred tended to take the lead. It wasn’t obnoxious, but telling the two apart wasn’t as difficult as others in the party seemed to want it to be.

They started with the Apothecary and got everything the kids would need for classes, as well as stocking Harry to start commissions when his creation of a new Wolfsbane qualified him to begin doing so. Then they went by the Cauldron Shop and got him the set that Severus recommended as a belated birthday present from his father, which the teenager hadn’t quite known how to take, before they made a break for Flourish and Blotts.

Once all the kids had their books, they made for the Menagerie. All the teens were getting to a place where familiars started to become more important. Not just owls used for communication, but creatures that were deeply connected to their magic and sense of individuality, which helped them stabilize as their bodies and powers grew.

Luckily Harry didn't leave with anymore creatures then the two he already had at home, plus one incoming if Percy had to guess about the eggs Morana laid, but his friends certainly did. Ron fell for miniature scops owl of brown and white, which his grandson claimed looked like a fluffy snitch, and who Ginny wound up naming Pigwidgeon. They went with Pig for a nickname. And the scarlet witch found a Madagascar grass owl, which she thought was perfect for a Gryffindor because of its reddish coloring that descended into gold, but its face was a stunning white, that she named Leona.

Fred and George didn't end up with an animal, but that wasn't too shocking for twins. They tended to stabilize each other's magic more than any familiar could. Nor did Percy, though the twins insisted it was because sticking an animal with their older brother was beast cruelty.

Neville struggled to find a familiar and was quite put out about it. So, eventually Remus brought him over to the pin of Karelian Bear puppies that were on sale, Percy bringing Harry over too in case the werewolf needed support. All the pups were very attentive to Neville, Remus, and Sirius when the animagus wandered over with Draco too.

"They're incredible!" Nev said as all the puppies jumped around then playing.

"Your father…" Remus trailed off for a minute and had to clear his throat, "Had one. His familiar, Mor'du."

"Really?" The boy turned excitedly, then he seemed to realize that he'd never heard of the dog before, "What happened to him?"

"He was killed the night they were attacked. Tried to defend them from the Lestranges," Remus admitted.

Neville turned back to the puppies and looked at all of them, as Sirius was squeezing his friend's shoulder. He looked over so the puppies and eventually his eyes were drawn to a smaller pup in the corner of the enclosure. He wasn't roughing and tumbling like the other puppies, but looked like he wanted nothing more than to avoid the melee, so he wandered over to meet the little guy.

And it was a boy, he confirmed quickly, even as the breeder who was there with them tried to warn him off, "You don't want that one son. He's the runt and has the energy to match his size."

Neville didn't think the puppy was small at all and after a moment to sniff his hand the big guy went up on two feet to lick his nose. It made him laugh, "I like him!"

The dog would probably end up just as big as his siblings and Remus thought he had the prettiest white markings on his chest and socked feet, where the rest of his coat was solid black. Mor'du had been a runt too and wound up bigger than any other Bear Dog any of them had ever seen, so he promised, "Then he leaves with us."

"What about you, Draco?" Percy inquired, "Found anything?"

"No," He huffed unhappily.

"Hmm… You know, Mateo commented at the party that the direwolves were very attentive to you," The vampire shrugged, "And he said Tala just had pups a couple months ago. Why don't we go by his place when we get home?"

"Really?!"

"Sure."

They finally made it back to the terrariums and we're looking over the different options while Neville was showing off his new familiar to the others. Harry was looking over the front opening options with water features big enough for Coatl, when Hermione found them. She tried to say it just wasn't meant to be, but Harry could tell she was upset and hugged her as Percy was doing a final check on the habitat he wanted.

It was a thin line enclosure that would be even harder to see than the one Severus gave him, but the water feature was big enough for three of Coatl, so there was plenty of room for him to grow into it. And it also had a waterfall to aid in the shedding process when that time came. So, overall it was perfect.

Feeling something rub at his legs, Percy looked down to find an old friend had wandered over to greet him, "Leo!"

Harry and Hermione both looked up confused when he hoisted the extra fluffy cat up. It was a gold and orange tinted color and had a sad looking face, but he purred loudly enough when picked up by the Hard Charger. They met glances before Harry asked of the lion lookalike, "Who?"

"This was your mother's cat! Leo," Percy explained, passing the feline off to his grandson.

"Oh," He pet the cat and Mione did the same, "Hello, Leo."

"He's precious!" The muggle born determined.

And Percy caught the moment the part kneazle's eyes flashed the same color as the girl's, "Well, good, because it looks like he's all yours."

"Really!?" She seemed to hesitate after a moment, "But, he was…"

"He was," Albus chuckled as he walked over with Gellert, "But now he's yours."

Hermione seemed to have been wondering something and looked up at the redhead as Harry handed over her new cat, before nodding toward Neville, "I thought we could only have an owl, cat, toad, or rat?"

He chuckled and pet his daughter's previous familiar, "That's only for first and second years. Familiar laws are very clear; no one can separate you from a creature once they bond to your magic."

"Huh, fascinating," The little lioness beamed at him and ran off to show her new familiar to the others. They finished up in the Menagerie and then took off for their next stop.

Madam Malkin’s was a real experience with all the kids piling in at once, but the witch took it in stride and had them out within an hour. Gellert refused to let his grandson use a crystal ball from nowheresville, so he’d sworn to make him one as they left the robe shop. Finding out Harry was a seer had actually been thanks to Draco, as they were passing by Rhys Inkler’s place.

“Come on, Harry, go for that tattoo like the Hard Charger’s!” The blonde encouraged him as they passed by.

“Excuse you!” George yelled from near the back of their pack, “The only one branding him is me! Not some dried up old artist whose hands probably shake!”

“Hey, now,” Percy insisted, even as he couldn’t stop laughing, “That dried up old artist happens to be a family friend. Watch it.”

He just sniffed and didn’t bother to apologize.

So, the vampire looked down at Harry, who was trapped under his arm, “What tattoo are you getting like mine?”

“If I told you that,” Harry nudged him with his shoulder, “You might try to stop me.”

He’d shrugged, honestly thinking that was a fair enough reason to hold one’s peace at thirteen, and had been about to get on with their day. Luckily enough for them, in the grand scheme of things, Draco didn’t think to do the same.

“He wants a wampus and horned serpent combo!”

Harry slammed down on his foot so hard onto the Slytherin’s that he had to be held up by Sirius on his other side, though the boy’s father was laughing so hard that the job fell largely to Narcissa when she came hurrying up. Percy really hadn’t thought about it until he stopped laughing too. When it did strike him, however, it was like being smacked.

“I’ve never been shirtless in front of you,” The retired auror recalled, “How do you know about that?”

“Umm…”

Everyone was on their way to Gambol and Japes by that point, the last stop before the rest would leave the alley and they would head for Ollivander’s, but he pulled Harry from the herd quickly. The lot went on about their way and the vampire’s mates wandered over to their spot between buildings when they realized something was happening. He watched as the Gryffindor tried to think his ways out of this one and came up with nothing.

“Harry, how do you know about that?”

“What’s going on?” Gellert demanded as they closed rank around their grandson.

“He knows about my back tattoo.”

Albus’ brows drew together in confusion, “And?”

“He’s also never seen me without a shirt.”

“Oh,” The Chief Warlock turned back to the teen, “Harry?”

“When I get my hands on Draco…”

“Harry,” Gellert demanded, “How do you…”

It hit the siren like a ton of bricks. Harry finding Nurmengard in his second year. Him avoiding Percy for as long as he did. Little things he’d recalled about his parents that the boy probably shouldn’t have remembered.

“Ahh, you’re a seer,” He noted upon putting it all together.

Harry sighed with his whole body, really hoping he’d have been able to keep that one to himself for a while, “Yeah.”

Albus just scoffed and waved him onto the joke shop, “Well, that’ll be fun the next couple of years.”

"That's it?" He demanded, surprised even as they moved off to the joke shop to catch up with his friends.

The Hard Charger chuckled, "Is what it is, Little Prince. Why didn't you just tell us?"

"I wanted to have a little fun with it first," Harry confessed with a flush.

That pulled a laugh from his fae grandfather, "Of course you did."

The kids ran around the joke shop for several hours and Albus insisted for just as long that their haul would not be brought back to Hogwarts. If Sirius shrunk all the other kids prizes and gave them to Harry to smuggle on immediately, then Percy didn't tell his mate a thing. They were teenagers and bound to get into far worse.

Hermione's parents had been here before, but they still proclaimed amazement for being in the muggle world. Percy got a call in his magical cell phone from Tina about meeting up for drinks and they were fascinated by the device. He'd thought about marketing them, but never had the time because of work, so he promised to make them an identical device to keep in touch with their daughter at school. The project would also give him something productive to do instead of descending into boredom.

Arthur was excited by the phone too and the vampire inquired if he'd be interested in signing on. The British Ministry had much more stringent laws concerning muggle technology and magic, so he'd have to get it cleared through the proper channels and having someone who worked in the Muggle Division would help a lot. Once he agreed the kids were wandering back over, so everyone started packing it in.

Once the herd was thinned, Harry was back under his grandfather's arm as they broke for Ollivander's, "...we ha-ve to?"

"The crack in your voice suggests that we do," Percy grinned at him, "Voice changes usually come with a growth spurt, son."

"He's right, Harry," Albus put in, "You're going to outgrow everything in your closet quickly enough."

He groaned. The cracking had started the night before when they were performing in the Hog's Head. And while he'd enjoyed the stories about Tio Lobo and Grandpa Percy going through their changes in Louisiana, Draco painted clothes shopping as a horrible experience, from Harry's perspective, not the fashion expert's, and he was not looking forward to it.

Percy caught the thought and shared it with his mates across their bond. So, Gellert shrugged and suggested, "We could always send for the clothes using catalogues. But, you've got to give me a few hours to sort through what you like."

"Done," Harry promised, beaming at him.

Percy opened the door to the wand shop and waved them inside, "Good, that's settled. Come on."

They filed in and Harry beamed at realizing who was already in the store with Mr. Ollivander, "Pépère!"

"Little Prince!" Lestat opened his arms wide and the teenager bounced over to him excitedly, "I heard you took to the stage without me. Mateo gave you excellent reviews though."

"Yeah, til my voice started cracking like a first rate traitor!"

"It's about that time, darling," Louis offered when the boy turned to hug him, "I remember the first time Percival…"

"Tut tut tut!" The Hard Charger cut him off, "He doesn't need to know!"

"It was Mardi Gras and you were flirting with a girl from a few farms over," Harry put in, before he turned to hug Nana too.

The vampire glared and turned to his husband, "Remind me to kick Mat's ass."

Gellert snorted as he kissed Lestat in greeting, "Of all the things you should be doing to that arse, kicking it is somewhere at the bottom of the docket."

Harry gagged, but turned to the last adult on the other side of the desk, after waving to the store owner. She certainly was pretty. With dark skin and even darker eyes, her magic felt very grey. Sort of like Mr. Ollivander. The witch was taller than Nana and dressed in bright colors to show off her curvy figure, "Hello!"

"Hello, sugar," Her accent was thick and definitely a marker that she was from New Orleans, "Aren't you just cute enough to eat?"

"You're still not a vampire, Vi," Nana huffed, "Harry, this is my wife, Violetta. Your nanny."

He hugged her and then everyone turned to Grandpa Albus, where he was hugging the British wand maker over the desk. When they finished, he turned to sit on the desk, blue eyes twinkling, "I doubt you're all here for the joy of it. What's going on?"

"Isn't he just too yummy for words," The American witch demanded, wandering over to run a hand across the fae's shoulders.

Percy rolled his eyes and went over to drag her away from his mate, who was turning bright red, "Nanny, focus."

"Oh, fine," She pulled a wand box from her store in the States out of her black leather purse.

Percy noted that she'd probably had a heart attack at the sight of this store. It was dust covered and all the wands he could see were in plain brown boxes. Probably exceptional in make, it was still nothing like the store that the Hard Charger had grown up running around in.

Nanny's workshop was about twice the size of this place and hadn't had a speck of dust to mar it since he drug in an old magic carpet from the antique shop next door to have her repair it. Even when he was ten and adorable, the woman had not been pleased. So, this had been a shock to her pristine tendencies without a doubt.

"I heard you were taking my grandbaby to another store," Without missing a beat she took her purse and whacked her godson over the head with it.

"Ow, Nanny, damn!" Percy rubbed at the spot, "Forgive me for trying to keep him local."

Albus and Garrick both burst with laughter. And clearly his friend wasn't taking offense, because he eyed the vampire and picked, "For shame."

The taller man huffed and moved to get introduced to Albus' previous boyfriend, "Percival Graves."

"Garrick Ollivander."

Albus introduced Gellert too and had to admit that Garrick had certainly been a poor imitation of his siren mate, even before he knew to make the comparison. Siren magic was neutral and aided wand makers in creating their wares, but the Ravenclaw simply didn't have the magical range Gellert did. His mate was an addiction, where breaking up with the younger siren hadn't really bothered him at all when Garrick got his mating dream.

He did roll his eyes at the previous Dark Lord catching the thought across their bond and getting a big head about it though, "So, we think that's his wand?"

"Well, I made this when Percival first got his mating dreams," Violetta confessed, "Trying to imagine a wand for the three of you having your first child… Didn't quite reckon the path you'd take to get here."

Gellert rolled his eyes, "None of us did."

Harry beamed at them not objecting to him somehow being like their kid and took the box when the witch handed it over. The box was black and had five images on cover. One was a tree of gold with blood red markings, then there was the Snow Phoenix in white, then an American Turul trimmed in silver, a Hungarian Horntail in bronze, and a Horned Serpent also in silver.

"Which one is the core?"

"All of them," Nanny explained with a grin, "It's elder wood, fourteen inches, and I braided Morana's other birth feather with a gift from the Snow Phoenix, before she had a name or gave any others, with the dragon heartstring of Fafner after he passed."

"Fafner?"

"That was my father's familiar," Gellert offered slowly, letting Percy pull him to sit in the vampire's knee where he'd perched on the desk next to Albus, "A Hungarian Horntail that was gifted to him by my mother."

"Woah!"

"Try it, Mr. Potter!" Ollivander insisted, waving him on, "Before I kill over from the anticipation!"

"Oh, Gar…"

"Not as young as I used to be, Albus."

Blue eyes rolled, but Harry opened the box. The wand inside was a pale sort of off-white color with just a touch of gold to the high, but there were also blood red streaks throughout the wood. There was a small gem embedded in the bottom of the natural handle that shined like a rainbow.

"That's from my familiar, Little Prince," Nana offered, "She gave an opposing gem to your father's wand."

Excited by the prospect, the Boy Who Lived picked it up and gave it a wave, but knew instantly this was the wand for him. Rainbow sparks poured from the tip, before it was followed by a gold mist, which soon took the shape of a turul, phoenix, lion, dragon, and serpent. Then the snake twisted around the other four creatures before they all faded away.

"I suppose it will do," Grandpa Percy popped off as soon as the powerful magic receded from the room.

Nanny threatened him with her purse, but everyone congratulated Harry on finding his adult wand, then they all wound up going out to an early dinner. Grandpa Gel grabbed catalogues for clothing from every place they passed and he was definitely looking more toward going to Tio Lobo's then he was the night after he got home. Still, it was pretty cool getting to hang out with his family.

He hated that Pops couldn't come, but the final trials for his wolfsbane were happening and the Potions Master had gone to do the defense of it. Harry could have, but the older wizard had a lot more experience and promised to teach him how in the future. Sirius had insisted it was one of those boring things he shouldn't be saddled with until he turned seventeen.

And the Head of Slytherin had officially filed to be put on his birth certificate, so he was going to make sure that had been pushed through as well. They'd debated what to do about the Dark Mark on his arm in Nurmengard and Grandpa Gel had begrudgingly admitted that Protego Diabolical should remove it when Harry suggested using defensive dark magic. Free of the brand that was plaguing so many, his father no longer had a reason to spy or hold off claiming him.

Though it would have been great to have the professor here, Harry thought he was getting a lot more out of the man spending a couple of days at the Ministry. They wound up eating at the Leaky Cauldron and Harry couldn't believe it had only been four days since he was here with Grandpa Percy. He blinked when Nanny reached over and pinched him, "Thanks."

She chuckled and wrapped an arm over the back of his seat, where he'd wound up sandwiched between her and Mamie, "I've got one more surprise for you, sugar, but it's got to be our little secret."

"Okay!"

The witch leaned over and whispered, "Your new wand doesn't have any tracking charms on it."

Harry leaned back a bit and grinned, "Really?!"

"Really."

"What are you two whispering about?" Grandpa Percy demanded down the table.

"The first time I caught you and Mateo…"

"Mary and Morgana, you people don't have to tell him every embarrassing story I've endured!"

Pépère snorted, "Of course we do!"

When dinner ended they made for Hogwarts once more. The pissy vampire still helped him set up the terrarium and get Coatl settled. Then they firecalled Draco to come over and he bestowed them with the floo code to get to Tio Lobo's house in Brazil, since the vampire had moved there to get some space from the Brat Prince following being allowed to leave New Orleans.

He and Draco went through first and were surprised by the gorgeous wood cabin that they found themselves in. Everything was beautiful and vibrant medium toned wood, except for the brightly colored paintings on the wall and matching blankets on the back of black leather sectional. Both boys got distracted by the sounds of music coming through an open door and almost forgot to get out of the way when the Hard Charger came through.

Harry grabbed Draco and drug him the little bit out the way that he thought of, just as a voice joined the guitar, "Ay, de mi llorona… Llorona de azul celeste… Ay, de mi llorona… Llorona de azul celeste…"

They shared a look, neither understanding a word, even as Coatl, who had wrapped around Harry and insisted that he get to go too, started to sway to the slow and sad sounding song, "Y aunque la vida me cueste, llorona… No dejaré de quererte… No dejaré de quererte"

Percy flooed into Mateo's place and it took him a minute to find the boys, because his heart skipped a beat at hearing the song for the first time in ninety three years, "Me subí al pino más alto, llorona… A ver si te divisaba… Me subí al pino más alto, llorona… A ver si te divisaba…"

And when he did spot them, both looked so enthralled that all he could do was laugh and wave them on out to the porch behind him, "Como el pino era tierno, llorona… Al verme llorar, lloraba… Como el pino era tierno, llorona… Al verme llorar, lloraba…"

"La pena y la que no es pena, llorona… Todo es pena para mí…" It was no surprise to find Mat strumming on his porch swing. He loved that thing almost as much as he loved his guitar. Percy leaned on the doorway and tried not to laugh when opposing dark and light heads popped out from alternate sides of him to investigate, "La pena y la que no es pena, llorona… Todo es pena para mí…"

"Ayer lloraba por verte, llorona

Hoy lloro porque te vi…" He supposed the vampire was expecting someone, because he didn't even bother to sit up where he was reclined on the swing, head back, and with his feet crossed on the bannister in front of him. It would be a lie to say it wasn't still a tempting sight, "Ayer lloraba por verte, llorona… Hoy lloro porque te vi…"

"Ay, de mi llorona, llorona… Llorona de azul celeste…" Percy broke in to song the song with him on the repeat, before he could even think better of it, "Ay, de mi llorona, llorona… Llorona de azul celeste

He'd obviously startled his best friend because he jerked and green eyes shot to Percy wide as saucers, even if he kept singing out of reflex, "Y aunque la vida me cueste, llorona… No dejaré de quererte…"

Mat forced himself to relax when he saw the boys there and kept playing while Percy finished the song by himself, even if their gazes were locked as soon as the caramel skinned vampire looked back up from the pair, "Y aunque la vida me cueste, llorona… No dejaré de quererte… No dejaré de quererte… No dejaré de quererte."

"Is musical talent just a requirement in your family?" Draco demanded.

"I'd say yes," Harry shrugged, "But I've never heard the fae sing."

Percy chuckled, "According to my husband, he's quite talented in the area too."

Mat chuckled as both boys rolled their eyes, "What are you doing here?"

"We went to find Draco a familiar, but didn't have any luck," He shrugged, "I thought maybe he'd find his match among the pups."

"Worth a shot. We need more wolves in the world," He howled and a wolf responded immediately. It sounded like Tala.

Coatl slithered down Harry and Draco wandered out into the small clearing surrounding the house to get a better look at the cabin. While he was doing that Percy grandson was wandering over to get a closer look at Mateo's guitar. It was white and had colorful calaveras all over for decoration.

"I saw a guitar kinda like that in Gringotts," The teen noted, "But it had Tiger Lilies on it."

Mat smiled at him and handed the instrument over, "Your mother played, or so I was told. I had that made and sent it through Mamie when they got married."

Harry strummed at it for a moment before he seemed to think the explanation through and he turned back to them with his nose scrunching up, "You didn't even get to go to their wedding?"

His best friend shook his head just the tiniest bit.

"But, why?"

"Pépère wouldn't let him, Little Prince," Percy broke in when Mat grimaced and he could tell immediately that the musician didn't know how to answer the question.

Harry looked between them, the Hard Charger still leaning in the doorway and the Original Wolf of Wall Street on the swing, "So, the first time you'd seen each other was the party?"

"Yes," Percy heard the floo fire and felt it across his familial bonds when it was his parents. Their timing could not be worse.

The only saving grace of the whole damn thing was Tala howling and breaking through with the pups. Harry turned to take them in, already swarming Draco down below, and he handed the instrument back after a second, "Maybe you could teach me?"

"I'd love to, Little Prince," He tapped the boy's chin and waved him on off the porch, "Go meet the pups."

Percy moved out of the doorway as soon as his parents walked up and dropped down on the swing next to his partner in crime. Running a hand along the other man's jeans at his thigh, he hated how tense Mat was. Rubbing small circles was all he could do as the Royal Slut pranced out on the porch first.

"Hey, Little Prince, long time no see."

"H… Hi."

Harry escaped down the porch and went to play with the puppy pile of six that was surrounding Draco. Most of them were silver like their mother, Tala watching close and her brother prowling around in the background, but there was one white pup that was very attentive to the blonde and snow white. Though he was fairly certain that was the Black heir's familiar, Percy was grateful when they bought the adults a few minutes.

Because his père turned on him in a flash, "What the hell was that?"

"What?"

"He hesitated! How could you miss it?!"

"His voice cracked."

"You are full of shit!" Lestat hissed, "What was that?"

"Can we please not talk about it?" Mat whispered and the tears in his eyes had Percy growling.

Louis sighed as his son flung the memory of what happened over their familial bond and hissed before he could think better of it, "Well, first you ostracized our only son, then you kidnap the one we adopted, and now our grandson is terrified you're going to take his whole life away too! God damn it, Lestat!"

He stomped over to the boys and his mate looked like he'd been slapped. The blonde maned vampire turned back to them and Percy cut him off, "Please don't. We just need a minute. Go talk to Harry, he'll relax."

For once the brat just nodded and left.

"Mat…"

"I'm sorry."

Percy pulled his leg closer, "For what, sweetheart?"

"I was supposed to be your uncomplicated relationship."

"Mat, no…" He took a moment to study the kids, where Draco was showing off the white direwolf pup to Mamie, and Coatl was back to being twisted around Harry with his head in the Gryffindor's unruly hair, while Père stood off from them a bit, hands shoved into his leather jacket, "My relationships didn't get complicated until I lost you."

"Perce…"

"I dove into work instead of mounting a rebellion to get you and Albus, because in what world would the Hard Charger have just left him to flounder by himself in Hogwarts…"

Mateo huffed at that one. He couldn't believe they'd made it a century without talking.

"But, if I couldn't force my way in to get you when you didn't want me to," He huffed, "What right did I have to do it to him? I didn't even know Albus and you…"

"I… You were the only family I ever knew. I didn't want that torn apart. I thought I could endure it."

Scoffing, Percy had to admit, "I dove into work and Gellert was by himself. He convinced me to have Flea after a couple years, but… It didn't make things better. No baby or bed warmers could fill the voids you and Cooper Top left behind."

He didn't continue for a long moment, then confessed, "He descended into politics and work was the only place I had any control left… I endured two decades of being his prisoner, but when I got out enduring that separation was harder. I'd lost all of you."

"I wanted to be there, Perce. I begged him."

That didn't even surprise the retired auror. Even over the years he'd never doubted that the wolf wanted to be there with him. But Mat was sensitive, where he was aggressive. He wanted to keep the peace, where Percy was always ready for that next fight.

So, it was only fair to warn him, "Y aunque la vida me cueste, Llorona, no dejaré de quererte." He leaned over and kissed him like he had right before letting Mat leave Nurmengard, "Because if he ever gets between us again, even you won't be able to stop me."

When he let the darker skinned vampire go, he finally stood to go check on the boys, though he held his hand out for Mat and the shorter vampire joined him with a chuckle, "I can't believe he cursed."

"Especially G. D. I hope he plans to go to confession tomorrow."

"Can't kiss the Madonna with that kinda mouth."

Mamie rolled green eyes at them and handed the direwolf puppy back to Draco, "That's quite enough from you two."

"What's her name, Draco?" Percy inquired, scratching the pup under her chin and grinning at her silver eyes.

"Snowflake! Snow for short."

"Cute," Mat offered.

"We best be getting you boys home," Percy suggested.

"Aww," Harry gestured to the guitar still lodged in his look alike's other hand, "But, I…"

"It's alright, Little Prince," The musician encouraged, "You send for your mother's from Gringotts and then you can come over whenever you want. We'll work on it everyday, if you take to it."

"Really?!"

"Of course," The vampire nodded toward the house as the sun set, "Best get home. Who knows what sort of blood sucking monsters are gonna creep out after dark."

Everyone rolled their eyes, but moved back toward the fireplace quickly enough. Harry hugged everyone, but there was clearly still some tension surrounding him with the reigning Prince of Vampire Society, and it was kicking the blonde in the teeth. Draco hugged his godbrother, Percy, and Mat before flooing back to Hogsmeade with Snowflake, then the Gryffindor headed back to Hogwarts with Coatl.

Percy made it until the kids were gone before hauling off and punching his père in the face as hard as he could. Where their fight three nights ago had been about being angry and petty on his own behalf, now Mateo was free to feel the wait of his imprisonment, and he was hurt. And that lit the Hard Charger's wrath in a way he'd been denied when the Brat Prince started his little temper tantrum, "Get out."

He got ready to say something, but Mamie stopped him, "Lestat, go." They stared at one another for a moment before the green eyed vampire insisted, "I'll handle this."

Once his mate and husband had flooed out and back to Loch Versailles, Louis turned on his sons, "What about Harry?"

Percy wiped the blood off his knuckles and shrugged, "I'll talk to him."

"Okay."

He turned to go through the floo as well, much to the pair's shock, and Mat demanded, "That's it?"

"Part of me was shocked he had the audacity to follow me over here… Then I remembered who I married," The man who was like their mother sighed and turned back to the guitar player, "When this one finally got free of Nurmengard, he slept around and isolated from the family. It was how he coped and asserted his freedom."

Percy had to admit that was true.

"I don't know what you're going to need, sweetie," Louis kissed his surrogate son's cheek, "But I know I'm tired of feeling like your warden by proxy."

He left in a green cyclone after that and falling into one another's arms was easy. Holding Mat tight was never a challenge, "Do you want to come back…"

"No."

"We could go back to the apartment in New York…"

"Perce, go home to your mates," He instructed, kissing him again, "I just need to be in control of my space right now and that means staying here."

"Alright, Llorona."

Percy left, but he hated every second of it. Landing back in the suite Harry had disappeared and his mates were sitting on the sofa with drinks in hand. With a groan he dropped down in the space between them and scrubbed at his face with both hands, "I don't even know what to say to him."

"All he needs is to know we're not going anywhere, pretty kitty."

"I should have ended all this back…"

"Don't," Albus suggested, knees pulled up to his chest as he faced the vampire on the couch, "You start down that road and then find out it never ends."

"This has been the longest four days."

The siren of their trio huffed, "True."

They were quiet for a while, just listen to the sound of the water running in Harry's room, but eventually the Headmaster had to give voice to something he'd realized after following Percy through their bond, "Lily could have so easily been ours."

"How do you figure?" That dark head fell to the back of the sofa and tilted toward him.

"You and Orion were so much alike. I'm not even surprised to find out how much she was always trying to throw herself against you. And now Harry's just the same."

It probably wasn't the best time to bring it up, but Gellert figured they might as well get out of the way, "Are you going to present Harry in two years?"

_ "I wouldn't give him the ssssatisfaction." _

Albus didn't have to use their bond to translate that one and chuckled, "With derision in his voice he said it."

The silver blonde seer laughed too, but suggested after a moment, "I know Père's in the doghouse, but Harry might be interested. He's following after you in so much."

“He’s lucky I don’t back out.”

The Chief Warlock studied the pair inquisitively, “Presented as?”

“The heir to Vampire Society after me…” Percy shook his head and confessed, “I… Even as a baby, Flea was supposed to be presented in ‘05, but I refused to go to spite him. I couldn’t mount a rebellion, but I fought him tooth and nail in the ways I could.”

“Was Flea ever…”

“No. He got older and thought duty and responsibility were curses, so I stopped even having to resist,” His voice cracked as he recalled, “Jimmy wanted to, but… I told him that he had to wait to come into his inheritance at twenty-five just to get at the old man again.”

Bloody tears ran down his husband’s face and Gellert knew how much he regretted that one. It wouldn’t have changed Jamie’s fate, but it was something that the Stag Charger had been so very excited for. He’d wanted to go to Time of the Blood and experience the vampire holiday so much, but never got the chance, “Perce… So much has changed in a few days. I think we all need a moment to breathe and settle.”

The water cut off and he took a deep breath, letting Gellert wandlessly clean up his face. He had to talk to Harry and promised his mates that he’d come to bed soon. Stripping off his jacket and letting it fly over to the coat rack, the vampire also untucked and unbuttoned his shirt, then kicked off his shoes and sent them to the closet, as he followed the pair back toward the bedrooms. Unbuttoning the sleeves of his blue dress shirt, he figured it was better to look like he’d been settling down a bit.

His grandson’s door was still cracked and he heard hissing inside as his mates shut the door to their bedroom, but he went ahead and knocked before popping his head in, “Hey, can I come in?”

“Yeah, of course,” Harry was folding a letter at his dresser and Pigwidgeon was bouncing around it, though he was more concerned when the teenager hurried to throw on an undershirt as he flushed.

“From Ron?”

“George, actually,” He admitted.

That didn’t make it very hard to guess, “Tattoo idea?”

From the look on his face it was doubtful, “Not exactly?”

Percy’s brows pulled together and he wandered over, “Can I see?” He was given a skeptical look and laughed, “I really won’t try to stop you, son. Grandpa Gel insists they’re our bodies to do with what we will.”

Slowly Harry extended the envelope and let him inspect the depiction inside. It was more a sketch, honestly, and it took him a moment to put together, "You want scar arts done."

"Yeah… I thought about changing the snake to a rainboa and adding color later."

"It's a good idea," Percy offered, handing the picture back and taking a look at Coatl where he was twisted around a low branch in the tree. The snake's scales were changing nicely from their brownish gray pattern to the shiny and glistening rainbow colored scales that stood out all over his top side, against the serpent's dark underbelly, "Let's talk for a minute."

He reclined back against Harry's pillows and tapped the bed next to him. After a moment the teen abandoned his missive on his desk and crawled up next to Percy, though he sat stiffly next to him at first. Unable to bear that, the vampire slung an arm over his shoulders to drug him towards a cuddle, until the teen relented and snuggled into his side.

"Harry… I don't want you to be scared of Pépère."

"How long did he keep you apart from your friends?"

He couldn't lie to the kid, even when the answer wasn't going to help matters, "Since the day I married Grandpa Gel."

"That was a century ago!"

"Not quite, but… Harry, he's not going to do that to you."

"He did it to you!"

Percy shook his head, "What I mean is, I would never let him do that to you."

"Then… Why did you let him do it to you and Tio Lobo?"

"Because Tio Lobo asked me not to fight him," Percy sighed and had to confess, "And instead of just apologizing for eloping, I did everything else I could to defy Pépère. It only prolonged the worst of it for nine decades."

"You guys seemed okay after Ollivander's today."

"Well, after your party, he and I had it out. I honestly thought we were both over it, but… After a couple days the weight of Tio Lobo's imprisonment caught up to him; I know what that's like and got protective of the lone wolf."

Harry hummed and one hand reached across the Hard Charger to trace at the antlers on his forearm where it was excited just below the rolled up sleeves, "Grandpa?"

"Hmm?"

"Was being imprisoned in Nurmengard like the Dursleys?"

Where the vampire froze at the question, Gellert went to cough up a lung in the master bedroom as his mates were finishing their drinks. Albus was trying to calm him down when Percy finally shook himself from the shock and hurried to answer, "No, no, not at all!"

After a split second he thought better of it, "Well, not entirely."

Gellert went to tears in the other room and he hurried to elaborate when big green eyes looked up at him curious, "Let me be very clear, Grandpa Gel never hurt me. Not ever. He just took my wand and trapped me there."

"Okay?"

"But… I heard a stray that of yours earlier, about not having a door there," Harry looked terrified and he ran a hand through the teen's hair, "And all I meant is that like you and Tio Lobo, I know that trapped feeling. The things your mind goes through, not just when you're enduring imprisonment, but also when you first escape."

"Yeah…" The third year just trailed off and snuggled into him further.

"Sirius is going through it too. And I don't care if it's about tattoos, or clothes, or pranks, you can talk to me about anything, Harry. Alright?"

"Alri-ght… Ugh!"

Percy laughed and kissed his unruly hair, "This too shall pass, Little Prince."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song lyrics translation: 
> 
> Alas, Llorona  
> Llorona [dressed] in light blue  
> Alas, Llorona  
> Llorona [dressed] in light blue
> 
> And even if it costs my life, Llorona  
> I won't stop loving you  
> I won't stop loving you  
> I climbed the highest pine tree, Llorona  
> To see if I could spot you  
> I climbed the highest pine tree, Llorona  
> To see if I could spot you  
> But the pine tree was tender, Llorona  
> When it saw me cry, it cried  
> But the pine tree was tender, Llorona  
> When it saw me cry, it cried
> 
> Sorrow and that which is not sorrow, Llorona  
> Everything is sorrow for me  
> Sorrow and that which is not sorrow, Llorona  
> Everything is sorrow for me
> 
> Yesterday I cried 'cause I wanted to see you, Llorona  
> Now I cry because I saw you  
> Yesterday I cried 'cause I wanted to see you, Llorona  
> Now I cry because I saw you
> 
> Alas, Llorona, Llorona  
> Llorona [dressed] in light blue  
> Alas, Llorona, Llorona  
> Llorona [dressed] in light blue
> 
> And even if it costs my life, Llorona  
> I won't stop loving you  
> And even if it costs my life, Llorona  
> I won't stop loving you  
> I won't stop loving you  
> I won't stop loving you
> 
> And Percy basically says the final lyrics of the song to Mateo after Lestat shows up. I know the ghost woman legend very well, but for the record when the Hard Charger calls him 'Llorona' he means it as a nickname as many do which means 'crybaby' because Mat's always been the sensitive one. More on that in coming chapters.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Harry has his first time in this chapter. I spent so much time debating who to make the first and eventually the choice just had to be made. So, here it is.
> 
> I hope everyone is safe and healthy.
> 
> Next chapter we get to the Quidditch Cup and fourth year! Obviously we've already dealth with so much in terms of Voldie, I plan for this to go a very different way than it has in the past. I hope everyone enjoys.

They wound up talking well into the night and when Harry finally drifted off, Percy still had two mates to put back together. Gellert was a disheveled wreck no matter how much he insisted that they really had gotten their marital issues sorted back in the mid-seventies and Albus was trying to spiral down his typical guilt trip despite having just told the vampire that it was an endless road. By that point the Hard Charger barely had the energy left to keep them from drowning in all of their emotions across the board.

It worked out well enough that they were all still awake and trying to settle down with a joint when the floo fired. Ended up being Mateo, the vampire unable to sit by himself in the middle of a rainforest anymore and Percy just waved him back to their bedroom. He wound up sitting in the window seat with Albus between his legs while they both smoked a joint, just so he could give the fae a chance to see the Original Wolf of Wall Street in his element, doing his best to seduce Gellert in the bed as none of them could stop laughing suddenly.

After a while Gellert suddenly stopped him though and seemed to mean it. He shushed Mat when the wolf tried to make a joke and seemed to be listening for something that even the vampires couldn’t hear with their advanced senses. Then he pushed the musician off and took off for Harry’s room, which had all of them jumping up to follow.

Percy shouldn’t have been surprised by the boy having a nightmare after all they’d dredged up today, but it just hadn’t occurred to them to give the boy something preventative before bed, and he felt like a right heel when the teenager woke up screaming and immediately collapsed into Gellert’s arms; especially after the seer reveal. The Liberator got him calmed down and gave him a pain potion when he admitted to having a migraine, along with Dreamless Sleep, before they all filed back into the bedroom. He wasn’t even sure if Harry realized that Mat was there in the upset.

“What was it?”

“Let’s not,” Gellert suggested.

“Let’s.”

He didn’t want the siren to have to relive it, but it seemed wrong, since he’d clearly caught wind of Harry’s nightmare with his sight, for the blonde to be living it alone. Didn’t stop him from glaring at his husband as he paced in front of the bed and chewed on his thumbnail for a minute, before finally admitting, “It was the night he got those scars… That bastard was drunk and Petunia was on a trip with Dudley. And… How can Cissy say he’s fine?!”

The vampires had wound up shoulder to shoulder in the window seat, while Albus was trying to snag Gellert as he passed by where the Headmaster was perched on the end of the bed. Taking a deep breath, Percy reminded, “You didn’t ship me off to a mind healer every time that I had a nightmare from the wars.”

“He is only thirteen,” The seer insisted, even as he was pulled down on the fae’s knee.

“And dealing as best he can with what he’s endured,” Albus broke in, “Gel, all we can do is support him through it.”

“Baby boy, he’s out like a light,” Percy insisted when he looked like he wanted to argue, “Smoke another joint and let’s go to bed. Letting him sleep is the best thing we can do for him now.”

Four of them piled in the bed was a bit of a tight fit, but Mat made everyone laugh with his wandering hands, even Albus couldn’t stop from giggling. All three of them wanted to snuggle with Percy and he could have lived at the bottom of the pile, but he would have preferred his traitorous best friend cease telling stories of how four to a bed was nothing compared to their hay day. Utter jackass.

He insisted until they all fell asleep that Mat was greatly exaggerating.

Harry didn't wake up until noon the next day and it was honestly a bit of a relief. By the time he got up the guitar that Percy requested from Gringotts before going to bed had arrived and he was excited to practice the instrument with his Tio Lobo. Of course, Gellert made him shop for clothes first and the teenager demanded to know what he was being punished for, but it was a good enough day.

They all breathed a little easier when nothing happened of consequence for twenty four hours. All five of them stayed in the suite and didn't go looking to meddle with anyone else either. His grandson was a quick study with Lily's guitar and Mat liked having someone to share his passion with. And Percy worked on the Grangers' cellphones, while Gellert built the teenage seer's crystal ball, and Albus worked at his desk on the plans for the coming school year.

Harry slept fine the next night and the Hard Charger breathed easier as a result. He also knew because he stayed up the whole night fiddling with his new project just in case. Mat stayed up with him and they wound up making love on the couch for the first time in almost a century.

What should have been their business wasn't when Gellert had clearly had a dream about it and couldn't stop grinning. The way Albus flushed suggested he'd been informed and maybe seen it across his bonds, but Harry was none the wiser at breakfast. Thank Mary and Morgana.

The Headmaster finally asked about Harry's homework and their grandson confessed he'd gotten it all done in Diagon Alley on the rainy days that he hadn't felt like heading to do his research. With that done, they had no reason to object when Draco and Neville showed up to cobble together a pick up game. They summoned the youngest four Weasleys, Hermione, Percy's godchildren, little Luna, Dudley, and Draco's best friend, Blaise, along with two older boys that he hadn't met before. Once the vampire was introduced to Mr. Diggory and Mr. Wood, Hermione agreed to referee and determined they should select teams outside, so everyone grabbed their brooms and took off for the pitch.

For a bunch of grown adults, they didn't last very long in terms of occupying themselves, before all four of them decided they wanted to go watch the match. Albus sent a patronus to his deputy and the family in Hogsmeade, then they found Remus already in the stands. It wound up being a fun way to kill a morning.

Oliver Wood was made Captain of one team and Harry took the other. Where the older student chose his team based on experience, Percy's grandson gunned for potentiality, and he suspected right away that it would pay off. And it certainly did.

Wood took Cedric Diggory as his seeker, as well as Fred and George, who all the adults around the Hard Charger were proclaiming the best beaters in the academic leagues. Apparently Oliver was keeper and then he put Draco, Blaise, and Neville in as chasers. Remy's godson participating under protest from what they heard.

Harry put Ron in as his keeper, took his cousin and Pugsley as beaters, and all three girls for chasers. He took the seeker position and, even as they circled one another in the air, Percy shared a look with Mat, because neither of them could tell if him and Diggory were talking trash or flirting. It was a great game though.

Wood got the piss stomped out of his team and it wound up being a pretty rough loss. Fred and George took a minute to realize the younger boys were actually quite a good pair and genuine competition. While the Slytherin chasers learned quickly that younger girls with something to prove weren't to be taken lightly.

With Wednesday leading the charge, Percy could have warned them, but it was a fun lesson to make them learn. Luna was a bit nervous, but the Horned Serpent and Gryffindor were fierce in their guard of her, and the blonde had enough of Newt in her to keep scoring given the slightest opportunity. Wood was outraged.

He was even more shocked when Harry was able to talk up a nervous Ron into a damn good keeper. He didn't have the experience and ease that Oliver did, but he made the Slytherins' lives difficult, along with Neville.

The seekers were truly an even matchup from what Percy could tell. Especially with Harry learning a brand new broom. With that said the Hufflepuff just didn't have the absolute gaul of the Hard Charger's youngest.

Severus made it back in time to see the last quarter of the game. Everything about his trip had been successful, from the trials to getting placed on Harry's birth certificate, but he wanted to know if there was a way to get out the word about how to remove the Dark Mark. The Potions Master also grimaced upon watching his son soar upward after the snitch alongside Diggory.

When the Hufflepuff hit the turbulence while ascending, he was forced to bail out of the spiral, but not Harry. He found a groove and rode it out straight into the clouds. Luckily the scoreboard was linked to the snitch and they all still knew the moment he caught it, even before he reappeared.

By the time all the kids wandered over to meet them at the exit, Wood had the Boy Who Lived in a headlock, "...ouldn't dream of not winning me the Cup?!"

"Never! You'll have it!" Harry swore laughing.

"Another thought never crossed your mind?!"

"Never!"

"It's in the bag? Sewn up? All mine?"

"Without a doubt!"

"Wood, let him go," Minerva ordered and the inbound seventh year listened to her with an eye roll.

"Shamed by a couple of prepubescents!" Fred cried.

George was pouting, "Haven't even gotten to Fucking Fourth Year yet."

Dudley was confused by the turn of phrase and looked at Pugsley, "Fucking Fourth Year?"

Percy godson rolled his eyes, "The year most witches and wizards start having sex."

"Got it."

"Alright," Albus moved quickly to change the subject, because he'd always hated that bloody nickname, "You all need showers. Pugsley, Dudley, you can come to our place."

"Blaise, Oliver, come on," Cissy waved him over where Draco was already trapped under Sirius' arm, "You can come to our house."

"Fifth years," Remus summoned the older boys to him and Neville, "You're with us."

"The ladies can use my apartment," Minerva offered, summoning all four girls to her.

Percy had to smile. Wednesday wasn't much for physical affection, but she and Ginny both had an arm slung around Luna, the little elf beaming between them. And Hermione was instantly in a discussion about her electives with her head of house as they all moved to shower and go home.

Ron was obviously coming with them, because he had an arm slung over Harry from the moment Oliver let the Boy Who Lived go. Gellert got to work on lunch while they sent the new beater pair off to the spare room to shower and the Gryffindors disappeared to Harry's room. It took about half an hour, but eventually they heard the boy showing off his new guitar skills, even when Dudley and Pugsley wandered over, and it wound up being a pleasant afternoon.

Eventually the boys were summoned by growling stomachs. Minerva brought the girls up for lunch and Remus brought Neville, Fred, George, and Cedric. After about an hour the rest of the kids came pouring in from Hogsmeade and grabbing lunch there.

Some of them decided to work on homework while they had McGonagall and their new Defense professor in the apartment, while others were more interested in Harry’s instrument and his new familiars. Luna was fascinated by Hedwig’s transformation and Wednesday wanted to hear all about Morana finally laying eggs after over a century of waiting for the Graves family. Blaise didn't quite know what to make of Gryffindor's Golden Boy having a rainboa, or being informed that he was Professor Snape's son. It was a damn good thing that Albus had all the seating he did though, because there were children everywhere.

Percy didn’t know how it happened, but when his grandson’s new musical skills ran out, Mat got sucked into teaching him more with a small circle of kids surrounding him. Albus confessed that his Head of House for Ravenclaw, Filius, had wanted to find a band instructor for years and asked from their station at the bar if the other vampire would be interested. The truth was he had no idea, but he encouraged the Headmaster to ask, because the musician knew how to play any instrument that he picked up.

After taking all the kids down to the kitchen for dinner, since they had such a full house, Harry introduced everyone to Dobby and finally got to thank his friend for the mind boggling job that he’d done on Coatl’s habitat. It took a while, but slowly the kids started to trickle home until only Harry, Draco, and Neville were left. His friends wound up spending the night and collapsed in Harry’s room exhausted.

Percy checked on them before doing exactly the same with his mates, unable to believe that as the clock struck midnight, it had been a week since he found out Harry was by himself in London. Kid certainly knew how to pack a week. Where the little hellion got it from was unfathomable.

The deadpanned look he received from his husband suggested the siren had caught the thought across their bond and Percy just laughed before dragging him into bed.

When Harry woke up it was still dark out. Neville was sprawled and Draco was stuck like glue, but he could tell right away that there would be no going back to sleep. Iggy was nesting in the trees, but Coatl stopped frog hunting when he saw that his human was awake and followed the rising third year out of the suite.

He had seen his father earlier, but they hadn’t really gotten to talk amidst the crowd, so he decided to go and see if the Head of House for Slytherin was awake. Seemed like as good a tradition to start as any and when his grandmother’s portrait confirmed the vampire was awake, Harry offered her the password,  _ “I ssstill want to know what the hell bear food has to do with a cowboy movie.” _

Coatl still didn’t have an answer,  _ “Perhapsss they ate it?” _

A chuckled pulled his attention to the apartments and up from the snake.

Everything was dark black wood and black leather, accented with silver and green, looking strikingly like the Slytherin Common Room. More surprising were all the pictures of his father when he was younger and Harry’s other parents. Other than his album from Hagrid and the Mirror of Erised, he’d never really seen pictures of them and wandered over to a inn table littered with the moving images as his father answered the unintentional inquiry.

_ “It’sss not about the actual berry,”  _ Severus couldn’t seem to stop chuckling as his son wandered over to look at his pictures of James and Lily a few feet away,  _ “It comesss from the old sssaying, ‘I’m your huckle bearer,’ which was the sssame thing asss a pallbearer. Ssslang turned it into ‘I’m your huckleberry.’” _

_ “Ssso, it’sss a threat?” _

_ “Very much ssso.” _

_ “Huh,”  _ Harry took a closer look at one picture. His mother was holding him and his fathers were behind either of her shoulders. He looked like he’d been old enough to move around on his own, because they were in front of the reptile house at the London Zoo where he’d first met Coatl, but where his parents were smiling and facing the camera, baby him kept trying to turn and point toward the entrance.

“You can have that, if you want,” Severus offered, “I’ve got another copy in my room.”

Given permission, Harry picked up the silver frame and ran a hand over his dad’s put on forlorn face as he moved over to the sofa, “Could I…”

“No,” He shook his head and explained, “You have to be able to talk before parsel magics show. And other than arguing with your dad, you weren’t talking yet when that was taken.”

“Oh… Arguing?”

Rolling his dark eyes, the Potions Master divulged, “You could manage ‘Uh-huh’ and ‘Nuh-uh’ and he wasn’t beyond acting like a big baby himself.”

That made the Gryffindor laugh.

Slowly Severus reached over to take the frame and look at the picture, as both their familiars curled up before the fireplace having their own conversation. Remembering that day more vividly at seeing the Stag Charger’s face, he recalled, “You couldn’t talk to them yet, but they were very attentive to you. He saw the writing on the wall and was already swearing to turn you back to the lion’s den…” His lips quirked upward and he tapped the teenager under the chin, “I suppose the right brat succeeded.”

Though he grinned, Harry’s gaze trailed over to his familiar, “Could have gone either way, actually.”

That was a surprise, “What?”

“Hat stalled,” He shrugged, never having told anyone this before, “And I got to make the choice.”

A dark brow just arched in askance.

Turning around on the sofa to face his father in scarlet sweats with ‘Gryffindor’ down the side and a white tank top, Harry sat cross legged on the next cushion and confessed, “I was in the crowd and I saw Grandpa Albus first. Who could miss him?”

Severus snorted in agreement.

“Then I went looking for you, and Mum had told me in her letter what you looked like, but… You just looked right past me and I got pissed.”

That much he believed. There was just one problem with the admittance though, “I did not look right past you,” Severus insisted with a scoff. “I could barely keep my eyes off you. If you’ll recall, though, I had a certain pest like infestation sitting next to me.”

Harry studied him for the longest time.

And the Potions Master moved to elaborate, because he didn’t want his son thinking that he actually ignored him. Gesturing to his now bare forearm, Severus explained, “It had been flaring since the start of the summer. Now, we know it was because of Quirrell’s return, but at the time… Grandpa Albus asked Flamel to let him use the stone to flush the threat out.”

“The one time you both looked at me was when my scar started burning.”

“That was not…” Severus sighed and realized this was something that Harry had been quite sure of for two years, “Harry, I swear, that was not the only time we looked at you.”

His son still seemed skeptical.

“You were with your friends and asking that twat we now have as Head Boy if your grandfather was mad,” Severus reminded him and rolled his eyes when the boy was surprised, “We were looking at you. But we had no idea where the threat was coming from and I couldn’t let anyone know you were mine, not then.”

Harry had known that, theoretically, after facing down Quirrell his first year, but it hadn’t made thinking his family ignored him constantly any easier. Especially that year, “Last year…”

“There’s a spell in the statue of Slytherin…”

“Yeah, we found it when excavating that basilisk.”

Severus just shook his head. He’d had preservation charms on the creature to do just that himself, once students left, and the chances of them backfiring to make the King of Snakes decompose rapidly were less than one percent, but they’d had no reason to believe anything else happened, “I took the Headmaster down to the Chamber several times, but it was always utterly deserted… After Dueling Club, we even started checking your schedule, but you always had an alibi…”

Jumping in afrontment, the teenager pouted and crossed his arms, “Well, half the school thought it was me! Why not you too?!”

Smiling gently, the older wizard grabbed his ankle that was showing, “Harry… You would not have been the first young wizard to lose control trying out magic you weren’t ready for. We did not think you were trying to wipe out half the school.”

Green eyes cut at him nastily and it was so much like his wife the vampire had to huff.

“I really thought it was all going to come out last year,” He noted in an attempt to change the subject, “Probably would have, if Grandpa Albus hadn’t thought to alter your heritage potion results.”

That pulled a smirk from Harry when nothing else probably would have, “He didn’t do that. I did.”

Startled, the Slytherin turned on his son, “What do you mean you did?”

“Figured the jig was up, if I didn’t do it. You looked at the results confused and at first I thought,” Harry shrugged, “Here we go, but then you just made a comment about me being competent for once…”

He flinched, remembering having to cover his surprise.

“And so I just rolled my eyes and walked out to find out why Draco had taken off.”

“I thought it was Grandpa Albus,” Severus noted with a sigh.

“Obviously.”

He couldn’t have been more condescending if he wanted to and the Potions Master just lept to tickle the shit out of the bloody brat until Harry couldn’t breathe. Leaving Prongs’ heir the the Marauders throne to gasp for air, Severus sat back against one arm, while Harry had reclined against the other, with his legs on the cushion between them, “I hope you know, Mr. Potter, then your leisure years are behind you.”

“Mum didn’t have to put any effort in,” Harry teased, “Why should I?”

Scoffing, the professor shook his head, “I should not have told you that.”

“Happens to Hagrid all the time," He snickered, "You should start a support group."

Eventually they moved to get breakfast when the sun came up and Severus caught up on what had happened after he left for London. He hated the trauma his son had to relive, but steered the subject away from it and toward his new wand instead. When the Gryffindor talked about the rainbow gem in the bottom, he let his son see the onyx gem in the bottom of his ebony and dragon heartstring wand from the same creature.

"Horned Serpents shed their adornments every few years and they can come back different colors."

"Wicked."

His father's wand was solid black from stem to stern. One couldn't even tell the gem was there because the onyx blended so we'll into the natural wood of the handle. Like Hermione's wand, it also had a kick to it.

"It's from the exact same Diospyros tree as Grandpa Percy's wand."

"Really?!"

"Yes. I was just excited to learn that at seventeen."

"But… I thought you and Dad were cousins? Didn't Nanny tell you?"

Sipping at his tea, the previous spy shrugged, "In a way. My mother would have been Grandpa Percy's aunt, technically. But, I always heard stories of her big brother, Percival, growing up."

Vampire families got confusing that way.

"Oh," Harry put it together, "Because you were born after him and Pépère started fighting?"

"No… It's complicated."

"I've got time!"

Severus took him in and it was quite apparent the third year wasn't going to be put off. It struck him after a moment that the last thing he wanted was for his son to hear it somewhere else anyway. And some ignoramus was bound to, if he didn't.

"Alright… My mother was born the first of the Prince line, when Pépère first became the Prince of Vampire Society. Technically, she was supposed to be the heir to the title, but, as she told the story, as a small child she begged her dashing knight of an older brother to take the title instead, because she dreaded doing so."

Harry's head tilted in curiosity. He hadn't known that Grandpa Percy was meant to take over after the Brat Prince, "But, I thought Aunt Issy's older than him. Was it a gender thing?"

"Not amongst vampire's," Severus denied, "Issy never wanted titles either. She just wants to travel the world with her husband and daughters, when they aren't in school. That's why all the Wizarding titles of the family fell to him too."

"Oh, okay," Harry went back to his bagel as the professor continued.

"When my mother got her mating dream to a muggle, rather than telling her family," Severus sighed and put his cup down, "She ran off and married him within a day. I was only raised with my immediate family, not knowing about her vampire relatives."

"When did you finally meet them?"

Severus thought about how to explain it all. So much had happened while he was in school and he imagined that Harry would one day have a similar problem with his children, "I suppose it began with your dad."

The third year was clearly surprised.

"He got a vision of being mates with your mother and I as we rode the boats in," Looking over at a picture of James while in school, he rolled his eyes, "He was a right brat, on that I will not pull my punches, and drove your mother and me up a wall constantly."

Harry had to grin.

"He was younger than us and finally got his mating dream that March, after both of us had already crossed the puberty mark… We both figured we couldn't put it off any longer and," Severus thought of how to explain their tragic coming out story to a thirteen year old, "Children can be cruel little beasts and he was always a bisexual disaster. After a humiliating incident our fifth year, we didn't speak again until Christmas of our sixth year."

Big green eyes watched him intently, so he continued, "He gave me a gift in apology up on the Astronomy tower and we officially started dating, the three of us."

Harry took in the black pocket watch with a silver deer with vampire looking fangs, but no antlers. It was beautiful.

"He had a stag in gold and she had a doe in white gold," Severus sadly admitted, "They were burried with theirs."

Shaking himself out of it, the vampire returned, "To get back to the point, my father had always had a drinking problem and was violent when he did partake, and to cope my mother had developed a bit of a pain potion habit. Christmas of my sixth year it boiled over and she was killed by him."

Startled, Harry looked back up from the watch with eyes like saucers.

"When Grandpa Albus wasn't able to get me away from him," He shrugged, "Your dad had the idea to elope and we did. The Headmaster gave your mother and I our totems and Grandpa Percy gave Jamie his when the Hard Charger married us. Unfortunately, both were lost the night…"

"Oh, fuck," It hit Harry like a ton of bricks that he hadn't told his father about that yet and he quickly took the necklace out from his shirt. When the vampire's eyes blew wide, he slipped the tether off and showed how they transformed into letters, before turning it back and handing it over, "Sorry, Pops, I forgot to tell you that I had them."

Running a hand over both he refused to cry, "It's alright, I just…" When there were no words, he just put the necklace back on Harry, "Anyway, Grandpa Percy knew I looked familiar, but it took him a while to get hold of the case files on my parents. All to say, I didn't officially meet our vampire family until the Hard Charger made us all come to Nurmengard for Yule our seventh year."

His son hugged him and blessedly the conversation led elsewhere as they cleaned up from breakfast, and then moved toward his office talking about the trials for the new Wolfsbane. He wound up teaching Harry how to milk venom from several of his snakes and Coatl enjoyed talking to all the serpents as they worked. When he’d done all the work around his labs that the teenager could possibly help with, Severus sent him on to find trouble somewhere else.

And that pretty much set the tone for the rest of the summer.

When Harry wasn’t exploring the Forbidden Forest with some conglomeration of his friends, then he bounced around the staff on site for entertainment, or to Hogsmeade to bug the rest of his family. Going to the Hog’s Head after dinner was probably their favorite hangout spot. And Hermione started taking the bus to the Leaky Cauldron that way she could come to hang out with them too.

It took about a week of Mat being in the suite with them before Gellert was finishing Harry’s new crystal ball and Percy was working on the paperwork Arthur sent over for their joint project when they heard a noise in the back bedroom. Bets had been placed and there were only two people back there, so the vampire’s initial reaction was to grin. His husband rolled his eyes and went to muttering curses and he started toward the back, not that the previous auror didn’t hurry to catch them in the act too.

And what a stage performance it was. By the time the siren opened the door, Mat had Percy’s other mate pinned on the bed, arms trapped over his head by one hand, and the other exploring Albie’s open shirt before wandering south to explore his unbuckled pants. He loved having his cake and eating it too.

“Not to give the goat credit for anything,” Gel hissed, “But slut does have a documentary feel to it.”

Poor Albus startled like he’d been struck and broke from the wolf with wide blue eyes, staring over the caramel colored shoulder like they were horror incarnate, while Mat growled, “Damn it, Gellert, you spooked him!”

Percy just winked at the fae and turned to his husband, “Pay up.”

"The one time I need you to engage that constitution of steel," The Liberator complained, pulling out his wallet to get one of the cards he’d designed back when he first married Percy. They were basically I.O.U.s for sexual favors depending on their wager, "And you decide to become a playboy!"

The Chief Warlock wanted to melt into his red silk sheets, but still demanded, "You were betting on if I'd sleep with him?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Copper Top," Percy snarked before closing the door when he heard the portrait open, "We were betting on when."

It was the male thirds of the Golden Trio, as he'd learned they were called, and from their station next to the fireplace they were waiting on their missing witch. When Hermione arrived they were quick to ask her about her trip on the bus and through the Leaky Cauldron, before the vampire couldn't take it anymore. She'd insisted for weeks that it was fine, but it was not. 

He gave Harry and the witch their cellphones, along with those for her parents, and inquired, “Do you have a fireplace, Hermione?”

“Yes, Mr. Graves.”

“I’ll file for a permit and get you access to the floo network at home,” He promised, “You don’t need to be bouncing around on the Knight Bus this late. It's ridiculous.”

She’d hugged him and Harry went to start their trek into the village, but Percy stopped him, “Are you going to take the stage tonight?”

“We do it every night we’re there, Grandpa!”

Percy hummed. He’d been getting reports from Mamie of the Brat Prince being depressed since he cleaned his père’s clock. He wasn’t performing or leaving Loch Versailles. With Mat having been living with them for damn near a month now, the two vampires met glances and both figured it was about time to put the Royal Pain back together, “Why don’t you invite Pépère?”

“Do you think he’d come?” Harry asked it with raw enthusiasm and just a bit of skepticism, but no fear. Given time to see how the Hard Charger and Original Wolf of Wall Street were together, he had a better understanding of how things had spiraled when the father and son fought, and seemed to believe Percy when he said that the older vampire loved him and would do anything for him.

It was only the rest of the world that needed to be worried.

“I think he’d love an invitation,” Percy shrugged, “If he doesn’t have a concert tonight, I’m sure he will.”

So, Harry used his cellphone to call the reigning Prince of Vampire Society as they hurried out the door to catch up with the others, and Percy could feel it across his familial bonds when the vampire just about came out of his skin with excitement at the call. He’d made sure that Harry had the phone numbers of everyone that he made phones for, even as mass production started to spread them across the magical world over the last month. There wasn’t much cause to worry about him when he could get to Percy, either of the Hard Charger’s mates or parents, Tina, Theseus, Arthur, Hermione, or even the Grangers.

“Maybe we shouldn’t have let them go,” Albus suggested as they all settled at the bar to drink and smoke about two hours later.

“Why in the world not?” Gellert demanded, “Better than all fifteen piling in here.”

“We have to leave early for King’s Cross.”

Mateo snorted, “I cannot believe you are making him go all the way to London, just to come right back. Is that not asinine?” 

Percy shrugged, “Albus just wants a chance to check for their wares from Gambol and Japes and Zonko’s without Harry being here.”

“That is not…” He cut himself off when all three gave him equally challenging looks, “That’s not the only reason. It’s also tradition.”

“Sure," Gellert dismissed.

It was the last night before students came and they wound up having fun with the castle completely devoid of any other living person. The rest of Albus’ staff was at the Three Broomsticks for one last night of freedom. And Minerva was having her last date night with Aberforth at the Hog’s Head for the summer. Even Severus had been invited down to the Black house, which Remus convinced him to attend, so Hogwarts was down to four.

When Harry finally left the tavern that night, most of his friends had already flooed home from Grandpa Abby’s loft, but he still had Draco and Neville with him. When they noticed Remus standing by the fence of Draco’s house with a pretty purple haired girl, the trio shared a look and Draco assured that was his cousin, Nymphadora Tonks. So, with an entire foot of space between the mated pair, clearly their intervention was necessary.

Fred and George had developed new devices called tanglers that could be controlled from a pretty great distance, as long as they were dropped near their target. Draco acted as the frontman and Harry took the controller. The Boy Who Lived and Neville went around the corner of the house and laid in wait, while the White Wolf acted like he was just coming home for the night.

“Draco,” Remus jumped a whole other foot away from Tonks and that was simply no way to treat a lady, “Where are Harry and Neville?”

“Left before I did,” His best friend had the best confused face, “Did you not see them?”

“I… Umm… Must have missed them,” The werewolf cleared his throat and didn’t notice the tightly tangled chord that his blonde godson dropped, “How was your night?”

“Good. I’m heading to bed,” He made his exit quickly and Harry set to work as the Defense professor was stuttering out a goodnight, "Goodnight, Uncle Moon."

The thin stainless steel chord was lightweight, so neither of the adults felt it wrapping around their ankles. And when it was wound around them several times, he let Neville use the button to tighten it up, sending his godfather and the man’s mate crashing into one another.

“What in Merlin’s bloody…” Moony groaned as he hit the ground, enough of a gentleman not to topple on top of his mate, because he wasn’t tiny, before both of them separated just enough to look down. They could make out something shiny around their legs, but neither adult could move enough to reach it, “I’m going to kill those kids.”

Tonks couldn’t stop giggling, “Far worse things they could have done.”

He couldn’t resist returning her grin and kissing the purple haired auor, having to admit that he hadn’t smiled as much as he had tonight since James died. After kissing for a few moments though, they really did have to get unstuck. Couldn’t just lay here all night.

Draco bounced inside and stopped by the living room where his parents and godfather were still sitting around. The witch checked on his night and made sure, for the millionth time, that he was packed for the next morning. Snow came running over and jumped on him, though it wouldn’t be more than a couple more months before he couldn’t pick her up anymore.

“DRACO!”

“Well, I should get to bed.”

“Hold it,” His mother called in a hiss and he came back to the doorway attempting to play innocent.

“Yes, Mum?”

She was already putting her tea down, “What did you do to Remus?”

“Not a thing.”

“Where are you going?” Sirius demanded of his wife, “Sit down.”

“Remus…”

“SIRIUS! GET OUT HERE!”

“Sit down and finish your tea,” The animagus insisted as he lit a cigarette, “He’ll be fine. You, go to bed.”

Draco gave a two finger salute and made his break to get up to his room. When he made it upstairs he jumped in the window seat of his room and stuck his head out the window so he could see his friends. He leaned back to listen, while the teens below leaned on the side of the house, but the werewolf’s ire was still directed at his best friend for the moment.

“I KNOW YOU HEAR ME! YOU ABSOLUTE TOSSER!”

“Mischief Managed,” They chorused, before Harry waved his friend on around the back of the house, and Draco shut his window.

“I HEARD YOU THREE! GET OVER HERE!” Remus listened for a minute, realizing instantly that they had the Map and resisting the urge to groan, “HARRY! NEVILLE! DRACO!”

Tonks couldn’t breathe. She was laughing so hard.

Realizing that no one was coming to free them, the werewolf sighed, “They are in so much trouble.”

“What did you hear?”

“What?” He had to think for a moment and then rolled his eyes, “Nothing, they… When I was in school, James, Sirius, and I made this map. And they said the phrase required to close the blasted thing.”

“The Marauders’ Map?” Dark eyes twinkled at him, “You made that?!”

“You know what that is?” He asked dryly.

“Of course! I gave it to Fred and George during their first year!” She grinned, “It was mine and Charlie’s last.”

“Oh,” Remus noted, “So, this is your fault.”

She rolled her eyes, “I don’t think the map enabled this exactly.”

It struck him after a moment that somewhere in the afterlife, James Potter was laughing his arse off, and he just rolled his eyes before kissing her. They were locked at the mouth still when salvation actually arrived. And the one to show up couldn’t have possibly ignited his shame more then if his mate’s mother had been the one to come to call.

“Moving a little fast, aren’t we?”

Amber eyes blew wide as he took in Minerva McGonagall’s approach and he wanted to die, “I can explain…”

“You said it for seven years and it was never true,” She noted curtly, “Why start now?”

“The Second Gens did this!” He insisted, “We’re stuck! Please help.”

The witch wandered over and took note of the cord wrapped around them. Leaning down for closer inspection, there was a small red tab near either the start or end of it, she wasn’t sure which or if it mattered, and when she pulled it the tie released. It spun to coil up in a tight circle about two inches wide and Minerva picked it up. Probing at both ends, it didn’t look like it could just be used as a rope, so she slipped it into her pocket.

Remus helped pick his mate up and offered his gratitude to his previous professor.

“Don’t be mad at them,” Tonks instructed, going up on her tiptoes to kiss him, “It was kind of fun.”

He flushed and allowed, “I suppose I’ll just have to let it go this one time.”

“The Headmaster’s making me and Kingsley ride the train tomorrow.”

“Me too,” Remus confessed, “I’ll see you there.”

“Fantastic!”

As she bounced away there was a cracking sound like a whip from the porch behind him and the werewolf didn’t need to turn around to know Sirius was there smoking a fag. He just flipped the bastard off and started up toward the castle with Minerva, though the arsehole’s mother waved goodnight to him. Neville had best already be in bed.

Harry led them to the secret tunnel that his father had told him about beneath the willow and took Neville back through the Chamber of Secrets. Once his friend was on the way to pretend to be asleep, he ducked down the stairs to Hufflepuff basement so that he could check in with Dobby. The house elf had all of their props for the Start of Feast bash and it was set up to bring a pretty big bang to the start of the year.

With everything set up according to Dobby, he thanked his friend and moved to get upstairs before the Headmaster caught wind of him taking too long after ten. Last thing he needed was the man to start tracking him using his link to the castle and get suspicious of the kitchens. He debated engaging the cloak as that was the one time Hogwarts wouldn’t tell on him indoors, but decided that would probably be going too far.

He almost regretted it when Remus and McGonagall were saying goodnight in the entryway. Dodging back into the staff entrance to the Great Hall, Harry waited them out, grinning when the witch waited around for a minute and Hedwig flew in from hunting. The lioness gave his tangler back and once she was gone he stood up to get back home.

“What are you doing?”

“Merlin’s fucking balls!” He grabbed his chest and glared at the Potions Master, “Having a heart attack at the moment!”

Severus rolled his eyes, “Get upstairs, before I feed you to the werewolf.”

“Night, Pops,” Harry hugged him and got moving.

Upstairs he gave the password to the gargoyle and checked in with Ariana’s portrait, before going inside and saying goodnight. It was a pretty decent night of sleep with Hedwig basically nesting on his pillow right on top of his head and Coatl deciding to twist around him all night, but waking up a bit before five wasn’t odd either. Showering and getting himself ready, Harry rolled his eyes and handed his trunk off to Dobby to go ahead up to Gryffindor Tower.

There was no way that he was dragging Coatl and Iggy all the way to London just to come right back and Grandpa Albus relented on that front. He couldn’t set them up in the dormitory the way he could here, so while they were free to visit, both were probably going to stay with his grandparents in the Headmaster’s suite at night, and the pair were excited enough. As long as they got to run around with him during free time.

Once he was ready it was only a bit after five and he wound up meeting Grandpa Gel in the hallway, the siren looking like he was just getting up to. Sliding under the man’s arm he could tell that growth spurt everyone had been talking about was starting. He’d finally cracked the five foot mark by an inch, along with his voice cracking at the drop of a hat, but the height was nothing compared to Ron’s jump to just five inches below the six foot mark.

And Mrs. Weasley swore it was only the beginning for his best mate.

“Are you excited?”

“For what?” Harry demanded, “I’m already right here!”

Grandpa Percy chuckled, “What about seeing your friends?”

“Who were those people I hung out with last night?” He demanded, “Strangers from another dimension? Where’s Tio Lobo?”

“Went to bed a couple hours ago,” The vampire divulged as his grandson wandered into the kitchen for breakfast.

Sleeping was a no man’s land in their home that had been difficult to bridge. 

Where vampires could easily go off a couple of hours of sleep for a week, Percy and Mat tended to just sleep a couple of hours every night to kill time, then they were up and looking for something to do. Gellert needed eight hours, just like Harry, but that was a hard achieved goal for a seer when their third eye used dreams like just one more grand chance to explore the cosmos. And their resident fire fae actually needed about ten hours, because his metabolism was so high and sleep was the best chance for his magic to rebuild, but he’d been trying to keep up with them for the first couple of weeks they were all living together to horrible results.

Eventually though, they’d found a sort of balance, mostly of everyone just accepting their own limits in the realm. Percy and Mat tended to go to bed with their lovers, but usually woke up and found something to do before they risked waking either up. And Gellert was sporadic, but he’d gotten his crystal ball from Nurmengard for the nights where he woke up and couldn’t return to the land of Morpheus.

Albus had been exhausted after trying to keep up with them, but finally crashed and confessed to the problem. They had to assure the Headmaster that no one cared if he slept more than them. Quite frankly it was just their expectation living with a non-vampire.

The previous night, the wolf just hadn’t been able to settle down, not even a little. When Percy got up his best friend confirmed that it wasn’t nervousness about the children arriving. Rather, he wasn’t sure what to do with Harry leaving home, even knowing that he was going to be in the same castle.

If the green eyed vampire had needed space from Mamie and Père, he’d become rather protective over his lovers and their grandson. Percy promised him that was normal. The chances were that they were all going to have small crises at losing Harry after only having him at home, getting to be a family, for a month.

And Harry was sporadic like the Liberator. He’d barely gotten his best friend to go to sleep for a couple of hours when he heard the teenager’s shower cut on. There was nothing to be done for it though.

Eventually Albus and Mat woke up together. They all milled about until 10:30am and then it was time to get moving for King’s Cross Station. Mat was having to ride the train in with Remus and the aurors joining the staff for the year too, so he had Hedwig teleport him alongside Harry as a form of protest, rather than just taking the portkey with the others. Severus was going with them too, since it was his first chance to put his son on the train.

While the young vampire might not always show it, his hallow really was the stone. Percy had to laugh at it sometimes. His son in law, husband, and best friend all had it that way. They were a sensitive lot, even if they expressed it very differently, and the loves of their life motivated them always.

Living with two of them and Severus always popping in to make a third, constantly had the Hard Charger and his grandson meeting glances as their eyes rolled. It had become apparent that Harry’s hallow was the cloak, just like him and Jimmy. They were the survivors or defenders. Though they took a stand to protect life whenever necessary, giving so much of themselves to others was a difficult and foreign concept.

That was why it had been so brutal for Percy when trapped in Nurmengard.

Why his grandson couldn’t stand relegating himself to the sidelines.

And then there was Albus watching them all argue, the only wand hallow left since they lost Little Copper, the final shield or tyrant. Fawkes hadn’t been kidding about the Headmaster losing his hallow when he gave Harry up to the Dursleys, but the last month had been one big laugh for the ginger. The Elder Wand housed in his wand tattoo might represent liberty, but it also naturally inclined those with the hallow to keep the peace, which he did… Once he’d gotten a good laugh in at their bickering.

He shook the thoughts off as they all landed in an alley just a block over from the station. Iggy shrieked at Albus before going back to Hogwarts in a burst of blames and Mat snorted, “What she said.”

Harry snickered and the teen got them moving from his place under the taller man’s arm. The two had really bonded over the last month and Percy was already sure gossip was going to rampant about the two being related. They even dressed alike, always in a leather jacket, though he supposed the same could be said of him, along with preferring jeans and button ups to anything more formal.

Hermione found them on the way through the station, already having said goodbye to her parents since they couldn’t get onto the platform, and Harry took her trolley like a gentleman as they all chatted. The last time he’d put a kid on this train had been Jimmy back in ‘77 at the start of his seventh year and by all accounts the train hadn’t changed a bit. Children of all ages were running around and parents were crying no matter the year they were facing, first or last, or somewhere in between.

He took Hermione’s things to the storage cart and came back to Gellert about to smother Harry, insisting that the third year didn’t have to go. Their grandson rolled his eyes, “Please, it’s the only break I’m going to get from you people!”

Eventually the siren let him go and Harry turned to his fae grandfather. When he saw tears in the twinkling blue eyes he couldn’t stop a scoff, even as he moved to hug the Headmaster, “You’ll recall this was your idea.”

“I take it back,” Albus decided, “Why don’t you just come back with us?”

“I’ll be back in eight hours,” Harry promised, “How much trouble could I really get into?”

The arrival of the Blacks was announced by Sirius’ laughter, “I suppose we’ll find out.”

Remus was with them and already holding Tonks’ hand as they approached, Draco and Neville bouncing off with their trolleys for storage, as Harry turned to hug Percy. The vampire instructed, “Have fun.”

“I really thought I was done with this in ‘77,” Kingsley Shacklebolt insisted as he arrived behind the others.

Harry laughed and they had to take a few minutes to introduce him to the fifth boy who shared the Marauders’ dorm in school. As a general rule no one mentioned Peter Pettigrew by name anymore. But, the boys were all excited to meet the third chaser to make up Jimmy and Sirius’ legacy on the Gryffindor team.

The time came quickly where the Weasleys were arriving and Harry needed to hurry in finding a compartment if he wanted to have one. He hugged his father last and Percy caught a few kids' utter confusion at the Potions Master showing affection, but it was a quick enough exchange before their grandson ran off. The trio of mates kissed their wolf goodbye before all the adults went and boarded the train at the final whistle.

Left behind they all waved as the train started off. Harry's band had seemed to sprawl across a few compartments. They might be down a few with the loss of his godkids and Dudley, but there were also a few additions the Hard Charger didn't recognize; Albus would tell him later that they were the other two boys sharing Harry's dorm. His nieces also waved from the witches' compartment, probably having gotten there early since his twin sister and brother in law also had an eleven o'clock departure.

Once the train was completely out of sight there was nothing left to do but portkey back to Hogsmeade. Albus and Gellert took back off for the castle and let him go to the Hog's Head for a drink without any judgement. And his best friend poured out and put him back together like he always did, rough around the edges as the approach might be.

Harry sat back in his seat by the window with a thump and let loose a long exhale. He only had his wand, coat, and wallet on him. His uniform was shrunk in the wallet, but luckily the Deathly Trio hadn't thought to ask how he'd be sizing it back up before arrival.

Draco and Blaise took a compartment on down the way, because both acknowledged that the blonde wanted to get the Slytherins' inquisition out of the way immediately, and he admitted it was better if Harry wasn't there. Far from taking offense, the Boy Who Lived needed the Black heir to get the word out about removing the Dark Mark to help his family, and this was the most efficient way to do it. He'd caught wind of a discussion between Pops and the Hard Charger thanks to his third eye and knew that students could spread the word with far greater ease than adults trying to work outside the legal system to save lives from Azkaban.

Grandpa Percy was right. Having a tattoo alone was not a crime. Nor holding certain beliefs about blood status, no matter how ignorant.

Anything else the Ministry could persecute of illegal activity, of course they should, but not the mark alone. Pépère, out of his slump, had agreed to hold a conclave that Harry wasn't supposed to know about, on an isle called Night Island in a year, which was also supposed to be a secret. But, they were struggling to spread the word.

A little minor intervention would go a long way.

"Alright, Potter," Dean said as the Gryffindors from their year settled around the seats to get comfortable, "What the hell?!"

Harry grinned, but let his head fall back against the seat and closed his eyes, "I'm going to need a little more specificity."

Seamus snorted, "So much happened, the poor boy can' even recall it all."

"Let's start with Sirius Black, move onto the Hard Charger eradicating the Dark Lord, and then end with you being Snape's son," The darker skinned Gryffindor ordered.

"He's my godfather and never would have betrayed my dad for anything," Harry started, "You don't take my dad's wand and murder him without Grandpa getting even. And yes."

"He's also got a phoenix and rainboa for familiars," Neville put in, nose already on a book on beginning one's own greenhouse from Grandpa Gellert.

Ron laughed, "And a Firebolt to win us the Cup this year."

"Basilisk slayin' just wasn' enough for this one," Seamus teased, "Anyone need a drink?"

The Irishman passed around a bottle of rum and they were actually able to pass the next few hours pleasantly enough. When prefects did their rounds to make sure everyone knew they were approaching, Harry hid the bottle and finished it when the others went to find a changing room, instead just using his wand and the compartment. Given that his grandparents weren't concerned about his having the scar arts done, George had fixed up his shredded torso earlier in the summer, so he didn't have to worry about anyone seeing the scars anymore.

He'd ended up going with a wampus and rainboa, though he figured he'd wait for Morana's eggs to hatch before adding color, or getting anymore tattoos. They'd had some extra scars after creating the image, so Harry had convinced the artistic half of the twins to put 'Over My Dead Body' just below the image. All of it was contained nicely below his pecks, leaving him room to get another chest tattoo once he developed more and put on some muscle. After much debate he'd used Pépère's beautiful cursive for the words.

It just so happened that it was Dean to make it back first and before he got his shirt buttoned, "Wicked. When did you…?"

"George did it earlier this summer."

"Can I?" He gestured to Harry's stomach and the shorter boy shrugged.

"Sure."

After a moment he finished dressing and they settled back down to discuss scar arts and tattoos as the others trickled back in. Dean was the artistic type and Harry recommended him talking to George if he'd be interested in the art form. Though he confessed his mother would have a stroke, the other teen was clearly interested.

They pulled in right around six thirty and Harry already had his jacket back in his father's totem, so all they had to do was load into the carriages. Draco rode with the other Peverell heirs, Ron and Hermione, just to confirm that he'd been successful with getting word out to the snakes. Even those who thought much of their blood purity were having to look for some way to cut their losses when Azkaban was all that remained for Voldemort's followers.

There was talk though. When wasn't there around Hogwarts? Apparently much of the lot thought Harry was their true salvation. The legitimate heir to Slytherin.

They were citing his accomplishments in the Chamber of Secrets, as well as his being the heir to the Prince line. Apparently the sheep among them needed someone to bah at. All it earned was an eye roll as he insisted he had no interest in following the Dark Lord of the family's legacy.

Hermione sniffed with him and they booked it out of the carriage to join the older years who'd taken the buggy before them. Fred and George were sweating bullets as they were about to pull off their biggest caper to date. It wasn't really a prank truly, except for the twins' beef with the Headmaster, just a way to start the year off with a little fun, but the pair were so anxious for it to go well.

Harry assured them it was going to be fine and took his seat in the middle of the table with his friends. Mateo and Remus were already at one end of the table, nestled between Hagrid and Pops, while Tonks and Shacklebolt were at the other. He'd told the werewolf and his father that the twins were serious concerning consequences for the Headmaster and that was clearly all the family members needed to know. McGonagall was safe, of course, because she was leading the Sorting Ceremony and going to start them off, even if the witch didn't know it.

Per tradition the first years filed in after her and looked positively terrified. George wouldn't stop tapping his foot until Harry trapped the annoying appendage under his own and forced the trickster to lay in wait. The Head of Gryffindor waited for the Sorting Hat to start singing, but when it didn't she picked it up to inspect or start, then the fun began.

From inside the Hat sparks in Hogwarts colors started them off. Lesser witches would have dropped the headwear, but not McGonagall. Catlike eyes shot straight to them, but they'd all practiced their confused faces and shrugs on the train, not that she bought it. With an eye roll she turned her attention to the rather spectacular display, if Harry did say so himself.

The sparks skipped across every candle in the hall turning it into the house colors and lighting the Great Hall up like a discoball would have. Then the magic hopped around to each of the banners making their emblems come to life and dance. Bribing the ghosts to participate hadn't been all that hard and they broke in through the walls dancing as well when a remix of Pépère's latest blared through the hall from the Sorting Hat.

Then the magic turned up to the High Table and things really got fun. Bright light shows introduced each of the new professors, as well as the returning professors for the first years, then when it got to the Headmaster, his mile long name turned into his new title from the twins. Prat Maker.

The name earned an eye roll from the ginger in question, before the magic swirled down to surround him, leaving his hair, including his beard and eyebrows, a bright neon green. Then one more display, led by Peeves, sounded off for all to see, in a large banner of sparkling welcome to the first years from Hogwarts' Merry Pranksters as the song ended, and the Great Hall broke into a round of cheers.

Even the staff cheered. Pops clapped politely, but Harry knew him well enough now to see that his tight mouth was from fighting a smile. And his grandfather looked like he didn't want to, but eventually broke from his feigned displeasure and clapped too.

Once everyone settled, it was McGonagall setting all four tables with an even look, after she could get the grin off her face, "If we may proceed?"

The rest of the feast went like it always did, except for everyone snickering when the Headmaster gave his welcome, positively green with envy at having been outdone. Everyone ate too much and smiled too much. And at the end of the day Harry settled from the unpleasant feeling that had taken over his gut for the duration of the train ride since leaving his grandparents.

He didn't know when it had happened in the last month, but somewhere between Nurmengard and the Headmaster's suite, their presence became home. And going back to the dorms had felt like a loss for once in his tenure at Hogwarts. As they all made their way back to Gryffindor Tower though, it hit him that his friends were still home too; they just weren't the only one he had.

And the semester was grand. All of his electives were fabulous with Hagrid teaching Care of Magical Creatures and Divination really helping his third eye grow. He confessed to the Headmaster when the fae caught him sneaking home to talk to the Liberator after his first week that Trelawney wasn't much of a teacher, but the subject itself was fascinating.

Flying was always great. It added an hour of the activity to his dockets on Tuesdays and Thursdays, following afternoons spent in Herbology and Hagrid's class, just before an hour of Quidditch practice. But, as long as he piled on the food at dinner it was a lot of fun, on top of the four hours that Oliver had them in practice after lunch on Wednesdays; their captain wasn't playing any games, he wanted that Cup.

Since he had Fridays free, they usually went to tea with Hagrid in the morning, and when the others disappeared Harry started spending a few hours helping the half-giant set up for the next week. When it became a habit, his friend suggested Harry talk to the powers that be about turning it into an internship. 

It was the end of the first week in October when it came up and despite his pleading until near dinner, McGonagall wasn't touching that with a ten foot pole and told him to go plead his case to his grandfather. So, up to the spherical office he went. He'd admit that the Headmaster was looking rough. 

A month with the twins pissed off at him had not been kind to the man.

The office was torn to shreds and his outfit looked much the same. His hair had been a different color everyday for a full moon cycle and he couldn't eat anything from the Great Hall because it was all charmed to taste like sand. To top it all off, Fawkes had to keep being plucked because his quills kept disappearing, and his signature always changed to 'Prat Maker'.

Harry would have felt worse, if living with Percy as Head Boy wasn't an absolutely miserable experience for the entire bloody school.

He was still human though. The twins had asked for a way into the Headmaster's suite to hit the fae where it really hurt and he'd said no. Harry wasn't letting this schoolyard fight come swooping in to disrupt his happy home, even if he was just dropping by once a week for dinner.

"Rough week?"

The Chief Warlock scoffed and abandoned his professionally worded 'fuck off' to the Wizengamot member wanting him to use his daughter's legacy to pass a bill that would mandate a dementor's kiss for anyone bearing the Dark Mark. When Severus made the woman's heritage public to get put on Harry's birth certificate, it was unimaginable what some tossers wouldn't stoop too, "What do you want?"

"To end your suffering, get Percy Weasley in line," Harry insisted, then confessed when he got a twinkling blue gaze that was as doubtful as it was tired, "And to go up to twenty-two credit hours."

Albus just fell back in his chair and pinched the bridge of his nose, "No."

"Grandpa…"

"N-O."

"You let Hermione have just as many!" Harry reminded him, dragging the chair on the other side of his desk closer before dropping into it, "Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Care of Magical Creatures, and Muggle Studies!"

"And all but one of those are magically inactive!" Albus reminded, perched on his side of the desk with a sigh, "Harry, honey, Hermione also doesn't have any clubs and you just signed up for six hours in Dueling Club, split between Tuesdays and Thursdays, and two hours of Music Club on Mondays."

"That is magi-cally inactive!" Harry insisted, knowing very well he had to swallow Dueling Club, "And largely just to keep me up until Astro-nomy… Merlin da-mn it!"

One hand wandered up to try and hide his grin, but his dimples had clearly given him away when Harry glared at him, "It happened to all of us at some point."

Harry sighed and pet Fawkes when he flew over to land on the student's forearm, "Grandpa, my grades have been per-fect and I've already been helping Hagrid set up for the ne-xt week. This is just getting cre-dit for it."

"I know, Hermione and Draco aren't happy being displaced from their reign at the top of your class," Albus sighed when Harry batted his big emerald eyes at him just like Lily when she wanted to do an extended internship with Poppy concerning healing and developing magic in young magicians, "Hmm… So, you get twenty-two hours, I revoke Percy's ability to give detentions until he develops his people skills, so let's say we'll review the issue after Yule, and you have the ability to make all this go away?"

Harry grinned, "Yes."

Albus sent the patronus requesting Minerva bring him the Head Boy after dinner and then took out Harry's schedule to add in the internship. As soon as he showed the addition to the third year, Harry pulled a potion out of the deathly hallows symbol on James' totem and passed it over. It was certainly an interesting looking liquid.

A clear vial and rainbow shades to the creation inside, he chugged it and had to admit that it tasted like butterscotch, then he sat back and watched as his entire person returned to normal. The office corrected itself as well and the Headmaster was pretty sure Fawkes sagged with relief. Signing his finished letter with his full signature, it was a relief when it stayed just as it should, and the quill didn't disappear from the inkpot, "Off you trot, then."

"Thanks, Grandpa."

Relief wasn’t a strong enough word for being able to show his face at dinner without being painted some horrible color and looking like his clothes had just been put through a wood chipper. While his lovers had been supportive and gotten plenty of laughs out of the prank from the twins, they were relieved to see him back to normal too. And the school was certainly merry enough when Percy Weasley’s detention giving privileges were suspended; people stood on the tables and wolf whistled after word spread the next morning.

When Halloween came around it was on a Sunday and it was also the first Hogsmeade Weekend. Percy went down to the Hog’s Head to keep an eye on Harry, but other than skipping the performances that last night, the teenager seemed to be holding together alright. And when he called it a night early none of them were surprised.

The Hard Charger followed him, but the boy didn’t go home like he suspected, and instead just went back to his dorm. Not wanting to bother him if the teenager just needed a minute alone, he went back to the suite. They’d see him Tuesday for second dinner anyway.

Harry was sitting in the window with his guitar and his jug of Phoenix House Wine when someone returned from their celebrations early. Last person he was expecting to look over and see was Seamus and said as much.

“Well, it was come back or listen to the twins caterwaulin’!” The other teen rolled his eyes, “And all anybody wanted to talk about is how they’re goin’ to be a early riser.”

He huffed. Losing one’s virginity in third year was thought to be a status marker to some. While Harry wasn’t waiting a century, Grandpa Albus was right that it wasn’t a race to the snitch, “Care for a dri-nk?”

“Always,” Seamus took the jug and the spot next to him in the window, then proceeded to cough up a lung after he took his first swig.

It made Harry laugh, “Never thought I’d see a drink too str-ong for you, Finnigan.”

“Just caught be by surprise,” He cleared his throat and shook his head before trying another swallow, “What in Merlin’s bloody ball sack is this?”

“Phoenix House Wine. Grandpa Abby’s specialty.”

He snorted and passed the container back, “Should be Phoenix House Shine.”

“It was once upon a ti-me, then he got in trouble for the name,” Harry told the story with a grin, “Grandpa Orion got the iss-ue dropped, but he had to change it.”

They passed it back and forth for a while and Harry went back to strumming. Eventually, Seamus settled him with a look and asked, “So, who are you gunning for your first time?”

“Hasn’t really occurred to me,” The seeker confessed, “What about you?”

The Irishman set him with a glare of exasperation.

And it made his friend chuckle, “Dean, then.”

“We are not subtle,” He rolled his eyes, “Probably end up an old married couple.”

“Are you not now?”

His friend grinned and took another drink, “Couldn’t prove it by me.”

They managed to finish the jug by the time everyone came back for curfew and Harry gave the other boy something to avoid a hangover. It hadn’t been a bad way to kill the night after the feast. He just had been in no mood for the atmosphere of the tavern and as they’d gotten more tipsy Seamus admitted to seeing Dean flirt with a girl there; definitely a mood killer.

When the artistic half-blood hadn’t seemed to know whether he should glare at Harry or not when the other three boys poured into their dorm to find them in the window together, he didn’t think it was going to be an ongoing issue, and didn’t take the jealousy personally. Probably could have gotten this out of the way on the train, if Seamus had walked in on the other boy admiring his scar arts.

Two days later his personal project for the semester was finished and he tried to cancel dinner after getting out of Dueling Club. He should have known the Liberator wouldn’t let it be that easy. The man was a menace.

“But it’s Tuesday night!”

“I’ll make it up to you. I’ve got to run down to Hogs-meade,” He tried to make a break from the kitchen quickly.

Gellert signalled Percy to grab him and his husband snatched the teenager by a belt loop to spin him around, “Why tonight?”

“I’ve got to talk to Pops and Aunt Ci-ssy while they’re together. Good-night!”

He barely got to spin on his heels before he was turned right back.

Glaring at his vampire grandfather only got a shrug in response before he went back to the contracts he had for bringing most of his technology and magic combinations founded in the States to Europe. Harry would put it together fast enough that this would go better if he just subjected himself to the Liberator's inquisition.

“Why?”

“I need their help on a perso-nal project!”

“What sort of project?”

“It’s a Christmas present!” Harry looked at his watch, “And I’m on the clock! He has night duty tonight.”

“Your last project involved horcruxes,” Gellert reminded him, “What’s this about?”

“My last project was Wolfs-bane, actually.”

“Harry…” Grandpa Percy warned as he tried to snatch a roll only to be chased away by his husband.

The third year rolled his eyes, but took out his notebook from the interior pocket of his cloak leather jacket, “It’s a mind healing and potion project. But, if my Wolfsbane taught me anything, it was that no one is going to take a teenager seriously. I need them to defend it. But, if they can get on it, I think I can give Neville his parents back by Christmas.”

That got their attention and both jumped to read through it. Not that either understood the niches, but they knew what Harry said. And their grandson didn’t bring things up if he didn’t know what he was talking about first.

“Go,” Gellert instructed, “But come back to get food. You just dueled for three hours.”

“Thanks, Grandpa!” Harry hugged him and took off for the village.

He ran past Albus and Mat coming home for the night, but the Gryffindor didn’t stop to offer either adult an explanation and just tore out of the suite, much to their confusion. Both came in demanding what happened to second dinner and Percy told them what the third year suggested he could do. They were all shocked to silence for a few minutes. 

At least Gellert finally let him eat.

“How does he even have time for personal projects?" Albus demanded, “He’s up to a forty hour week!”

“He’s growing into himself,” Percy shrugged, “That voice is dropping lower everyday and I swear he’s shot up by two inches already since school started.”

“Was his magic stable enough?" Mat inquired, "I looked in on Dueling Club and it looked like he and Draco were in a battle to the death.”

“It was fine,” Percy assured, “Who won?”

“Percy,” Gellert scolded.

“Harry did.”

“Oh, good,” The vampire ignored his husband’s judgement, “Sirius owes me money.”

November wound up being a busy month with Albus covering as many of Severus and Minerva’s shifts on the grounds as he could. His Potions Master and Cissy were constantly in defense of Harry’s new project, fighting tooth and nail to get the trials completed before Yule, and the Ministry was trying to hike the price of Harry’s Wolfsbane and block new legislation to protect the rights of werewolves, so his deputy had taken on the challenge to stop them, since she had a lot of experience with public works projects. Though his grandson did everything the teenager possibly could to help them, he wasn’t wrong.

People barely wanted to believe what such a young genius had accomplished in their field and he really was blockaded at every turn. It upset him, but the fire fae promised that as he grew the opportunities would grow astronomically. And the Headmaster enjoyed being back on the grounds with his students instead of being stuck in his office all day.

Along with his projects bringing the Boy Who Lived even more notoriety, Quidditch season also started. All anyone knew was that the lions weren’t taking any prisoners this year. Cedric even made jokes about not being able to stay friends with the Gryffindors after the way his team was brutalized.

Right after the first match, both Cissy and Tonks announced that they were pregnant, much to everyone’s excitement. Remus had been a bit shocked at first, but the way all the Second Gens had been relentlessly shoving the mates together around the castle, the two had certainly fallen for one another and he no longer had to worry about the werewolf gene, so he’d settled into enthusiastic excitement. The couple had decided to marry on Christmas and asked Albus to do the ceremony at Hogwarts. Where Cissy was several years older than Sirius and definitely wanted more children, she’d barely given him a couple months to readjust to the Head Auror role, before they started trying. The Headmaster was still a little shocked it had taken this long.

Harry was determined to keep Neville from finding out about the project because he wanted to surprise the young herbologist at Christmas, but it had probably been a fool’s errand from the beginning. Headlines were running rampant and Augusta had to give them permission to use the treatment. Albus just happened to be on duty by the lake for Minerva when Hermione asked the Longbottom heir if he was excited and the truth came out. The girl felt absolutely terrible when she realized that he hadn’t known and wasn’t supposed to, but divulged everything she knew when the sandy blonde Peverell heir made the demand of her.

His aura radiated with excitement and raw affection. And perhaps a helping of overwhelmed sensation at large, but he wasn’t angry at his friends for not telling him, seeming to immediately realize that they’d only wanted to give him the greatest present imaginable. And that was how Harry found them.

It was the second week in December and snow had blanketed the grounds a beautiful winter’s white. His grandson had all of his work done for the semester and finals for the term were almost over. The final test of their term was for Care of Magical Creatures and they had to find a gaggle of Snow Pixies to earn perfect marks.

“I found them!” Harry shouted and when they all looked toward the forest he was being carried out of the trees by a golden glow with a pale blue center. It wasn’t until he was brought to the lake and sat down by delicate and friendly little creatures of winter blue that the glowing stopped and everyone was able to make out how lovely the pixies were, especially when compared to their Cornish counterparts, “Actually, they found me. All we had to do was get lost.”

“Perhaps we should all go and show your success to Hagrid, then,” Albus suggested, mostly to buy Harry and Neville a moment alone, “You know, I’ve always believed Snow Pixies had to be what inspired that particular piece of the Nutcracker. Quite incredible creatures…”

The Boy Who Lived moved to follow the gaggle of twenty children and pixies surrounding the Headmaster, but Neville held him in place, “What’s wrong?”

“I know… About your project,” Neville confessed.

“Cur-ses!” Harry rolled his eyes at the cracking, “Who blabbed?”

“Hermione,” The shorter boy confessed.

“Traitor!”

“Harry…” Neville didn’t think words existed for what he wanted to say. He couldn’t fathom just yet what his friend was about to accomplish, so he decided to express his gratitude in a different way.

He wasn’t expecting to get his first kiss by the lake, but later Harry would admit it had been quite the scenic situation. Neville didn’t outright snog him and he returned the gesture in kind, knowing perfectly well that the Longbottom heir often felt more comfortable with gestures than words. When they separated, Harry grinned, “You’re welcome.”

Arm slung over the blonde boy, Harry pulled him along to Hagrid’s place.

The kids went home a week later and Harry’s band of friends was excited to floo back to Hogwarts Christmas day to see their favorite Defense professor get married. Percy hadn’t planned to retire and become a full time business man, but when the old country really did have witches and wizards living in the Dark Ages, it had just happened. He’d had to bring Arthur in as Vice President for his new European trades and had to admit that the Weasley patriarch’s connections in the Muggle Division had been a life saver in terms of time.

Tina joked that she knew he wasn’t built for retirement, but she was one to talk. They’d finally moved back to Britain and remodelled the old Scamander mansion while Newt started a new Menagerie on a nearby property, but she’d been sitting around the homestead like a louse until Theseus finally made her sign up as a consultant for the Special Operations Division. The witch couldn’t sit still either.

A gallop like noise pulled his attention from his contract and toward the portrait. Gellert was at Nurmengard tending to his garden and Albus was working on the schedules for next term in his office, so it was just him and Mat at home when a stag patronus erupted through the portrait to charge around excitedly. Both shared a look when they knew what it meant.

The magical enchantment pranced around chanting, “I did it! I did it!” And then it went down on its front legs, a bit like a cat with its butt in the air, before declaring in Harry’s voice, “I DID IT!!!”

As soon as it faded away the portrait slammed open and Harry came running in with a familiar vulture on his shoulder panting, “Did you see it? Did you?”

“Yes, we did, Little Prince,” Mateo chuckled, “Very impressive.”

“You dad would be very proud,” Percy assured, “Muerto, always a pleasure.”

The vulture cawed in acknowledgement and Harry hoisted up a letter as he caught his breath, “Wednesday invited me over. Can I go?”

“Sure,” The vampire shrugged, “Be back by eight.”

He disappeared in a swirl of green flames and they watched him go, then Percy sat back and rubbed at his eyes. Even vampire sight couldn’t save him from how long he’d been staring at the contracts, but they needed to get them pushed through before everything closed for the holidays. It was a melee to paper pushers at the Ministry currently.

“You know what this means, don’t you?”

He glared at the band instructor in the recliner across the room, “Don’t remind him.”

“You promised once he had his full range…”

“I know. Gellert’s going to kill me.”

“You proved it can do good,” His best friend reminded, for the millionth time, “It’s just a spell.”

“My husband put that spell in the wrong hands and almost destroyed the city where we got married,” The Hard Charger reminded, “To him it’s so much more. It marked the point where he couldn’t turn back. Letting the faction go that far, whether he was there or not…”

“So, Harry’s the wrong hands now?” He just grinned and shook his head at the Peverell lord, before asking who the crybaby was now and telling him to get back to work.

When Albus and Gellert finally trailed home a bit after six they all had a few drinks and escaped into the bedroom for an hour, until the siren got ready to make dinner. The ginger and blonde were both very concerned when Harry came home covered in ash and with several fringes of his hair still smoking, but the vampires couldn’t stop laughing. Apparently Pugsley and Gomez decided to play battleship and Wednesday and Harry wound up the ships where they’d been searching the Addams property for Thing during a rough game of hide and seek.

The teenager was beaming and utterly enjoyed himself with the family though.

It wound up being a fairly pleasant Christmas. 

The morning of the holiday itself had them receiving the reigning Prince of Vampire Society and his mate, both carrying small turul chicks through the floo. Harry and his vampire grandfather both found them to be their familiars and Hedwig didn’t seem too bothered about no longer being the only aviary in his life. Harry named his little guy, who had black feathers with a silver and white beak, talons, and legs, Hektor. And Grandpa Percy named his little chicklette Tanda, but she looked just like Morana in solid black.

Remus getting married had everyone very excited and the wedding turned out beautifully. It was snowing softly and the house elves prepared a feast in the Great Hall to celebrate after, including a bar that magically appeared which Grandpa Abby ran. The ceremony took place in the courtyard and centered around the fountain, which was a beautiful arch, after the Headmaster charmed the water to freeze and decorated the columns with ice magic. Many tears were shed, but Sirius was the worst from his station as best man.

And Harry thought that Aunt Cissy was supposed to be the emotional one being pregnant.

The best part of all was when Lady Longbottom brought Neville’s parents to attend and meet their son for the first time. Harry loved meeting the couple and instantly saw just how much his friend took from his father. Mor’du was excitable as he ran around and barked about the reunited family.

Everyone sat around the fountain in white chairs, but stood when Tonks appeared. She looked beautiful. Her hair was a bright vibrant pink that matched her nails and lipstick. And her dress was a sleeveless white that flared slightly at the bottoms, with a bright pink band around the top of the neckline, and pink underskirts.

Cheers were deafening when the ‘I do’s’ were said and the kiss sealed the deal. When everyone booked it inside to celebrate the union and get out of the cold and snow, it was certainly a lively party.

The Second Generation of Marauders were relentless in their persual of their Transfiguration professor. The twins were in their O.W.L. year and Harry thought that it only fair, if they should become animagi by the end of the year, then they should really be allowed to continue the subject for two more years. It took a while to wear the woman down, because she knew instantly that Harry was going to be trying for it too, but eventually relented. She agreed that anyone who tried it and succeeded would be assured an Outstanding in the subject for their O.W.L. year, but they had to work with her during every step of the process.

They already had all the supplies and when the next term came around were ready to begin. Harry had been planning for this since finding out what the original Marauders could do. And Sirius and Remus were behind them a hundred percent.

Christmas was on a Saturday and the next full moon was only three days after, so the lioness agreed that they could go ahead and start carrying the mandrake leaf, rather than making them wait until late January. The first step of the process was to do one's homework, but when Harry pulled out a full binder on the subject, making them wait seemed like gilding the lily. And she wasn't surprised when the other Peverell heirs elected to join Harry, alongside the twins.

Luck of the draw, it was a short break for students, because they were all back in classes by January 3rd this year, as it happened to be a Monday. They were all back to classes, mandrake leaf under tongue, and the witch couldn’t help but pull for them. Not that she told the five that.

Severus agreed that her skepticism would motivate Harry better than anything else could.

One month later all five had managed to keep their leaf in their jaws on sheer determination and Severus had already given them five vials of a lunar based stone. Harry really had planned this out. Albus was in negotiations with Firezne to become the new Divination professor, since Sybil had decided to travel to Delphi, and they asked the centaur to get them five teaspoons of dew from a completely dark part of the forest that humans couldn’t reach. The centaur was charmed by the daring of Lily Evans’ son and agreed to help them.

So, into the vials went their mandrake leaves, a hair from atop their head, the silver teaspoon of dew, and a chrysalis from a Death’s-head Hawk Moth. Harry took custody of the vials to put in a dark and quiet place; she suspected the Chamber of Secrets, but had no proof of that. Then began their chanting of ‘Amato Animo Animato Animagus’ everyday at sunrise and sunset.

It took a couple of weeks for the second heartbeat to appear, so Harry made it through the team's third Quidditch match of the season fine, Ravenclaw did not, but by the time he had to square off against Slytherin the boy was struggling. So were the twins for that matter. To the point even Wood was proclaiming that they didn’t have to compete, it was just a Cup.

Because Hogwarts hadn't seen such a quick relief to winter or such pleasant days in over a century. It didn't rain until April and even then there were no electrical storms. All three boys were miserable as the semester wound down at the start of June.

When the match arrived however, the snakes weren't saved from being slayed by the lions when all three took to the field anyway. Harry was determined to get that Cup before Oliver graduated. And the Head of House for Gryffindor was thrilled for her team.

There was a huge party in the tower that even Percy Weasley had the decency to participate in. Everyone drank more than they should have, but still kept an eye on the first and second years, sending them to bed early, before the older years started to pair off. There was always a dark corner or empty classroom to find in Hogwarts.

The team hadn't even made it to the showers when the party started, so when Harry saw an opportunity he slipped back out and to the changing rooms. He had his head on the cool locker metal and was debating whether to put on his clothes to go back to the party, or his sweats to go home for a night of sleep with his rainboa and phoenix unaccosted. Grandpa Albus didn't want him crashing there often during the school year, but he wasn't above crying mercy for the night.

The tower hadn't looked to be fit for sleep until the sun rose.

"You alright, Harry?"

He shook himself out when it was Oliver, "Fine. Just trying to drown out this echo."

"Read about the transformation myself," Oliver shook his head, "Never much longed to try it."

Harry just chuckled and started disrobing to head for the showers, "Shouldn't you still be soaking up eternal glory?"

"Only so much glory one can take when chafing," He insisted while getting out of his pants. Eyeing the scar arts and tattoo on the seeker, he had to confess that the third year had really filled out this last year, doing so much heaving lifting around Hagrid's, "When are you going to add color to the lion?"

"Good question. I'm torn on what color to make the eyes," He had George go ahead and tattoo Coatl onto the rainboa on his torso and charm the brand to further connect them, but he didn't know if he could make the wampus' eyes blue like Grandpa Percy's or scarlet like the actual creature. He glanced over and had to admit the Quidditch Captain was pretty as sin and would later suggest the thought alone brought in his brazenness, "Why don't you join me for a shower?"

Wood still had about six inches on him in terms of height, but it was more like eight as high as the graduating wizard jumped. He studied Harry for the longest time and finally reminded, "You're still thirteen?"

Harry scoffed and grinned at the same time, pulling him over by his towel, but he was encouraged when the taller boy let himself be led, "Are you really going to tell me no because of one lousy month?"

The keeper looked away for a moment and seemed to debate it, before tisking. "You know," He grinned at Harry before kissing him, "I don't think I am."

After the fact, the third year would determine that having his first time be with the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain after winning the Quidditch Cup was a damn good decision. It was definitely not Oliver's first time, because damn did he know what he was doing. And luckily everyone was too involved in the party to disturb them.

His friend didn't seem in a hurry to rush off after they climaxed either. Even as they got dressed the taller wizard stayed locked at his mouth and pulled Harry down on his lap to tongue for a while longer on the benches. When they finally did separate it wasn't even truly their choice.

The first crack of thunder made Harry jump and his head turned toward the window in a hurry. He saw the first crack of lightning and grinned, "I'd hate to kiss and run, but…"

Oliver chuckled and encouraged, "It's alright, go on. We've gotta get rid of that echo."

Harry kissed him again and then jumped to take off for the entryway. McGonagall met him and the Second Gens there, so he sent the five of them on up to the Headmaster's suite. Then he ducked into the Chamber of Secrets through the staff entrance tunnel and grabbed the case with all their vials in it. Each looked perfect with a shot of blood red liquid inside each.

Percy and his lovers didn't get to even see Harry after his victory. He was whisked away with the rest of the team by a sea of lions screaming their names and celebrating. It was just luck that no one in the family was on duty that night and all of them wound up toasting to the Potter heir's victory.

"I can't stand this," Sirius admitted, "It was one thing when we went through it, but they're only thirteen."

Remus snorted, Tonks settled contentedly on his lap since Kingsley was on duty, "Yeah, because you and James were some dream to live with for those two months."

"It has been five," Minerva noted, perched at the bar with Albus and Gellert, "They have my sympathy. It's been a drought in terms of electricity."

"Should we make them stop?" Cissy demanded.

Severus laughed, "Sure, just give me the chance to put some distance between us."

"We could always go the other way," Mat suggested, "We do have three vampires just sitting here."

Percy hummed, because he hadn't thought of that, and he rolled his eyes downward to the wolf resting against him, "We could do that."

"Well, if we're meddling," Albus decided and moved to the fireplace, "I'm going to firecall Arthur and Molly to come over."

"I'll get Alice and Frank," Remus offered, sending a patronus to the couple who had been living with Sirius and Cissy to be close to their son since Christmas.

Once the Weasleys were summoned, everyone sat down to make themselves look innocent, the Longbottoms arriving last, so it could look like they hadn't left after the Quidditch match. Albus was settling back at the bar when the vampires started using their rarely seen powers to summon storms and chuckled when Coatl came slithering in past the portrait. Once the storm was gathering, his mate moved to ask the rainboa how the party in the lion's den was, and he seemed conversational enough.

_ "It wasss pleasssant. Harry left early and I wanted to follow," _ The snake tilted his head in the snakes approximation of a shrug,  _ "But he'd taken a mate and I didn't now want to intrude." _

_ "Happensss to the… Wait, what?"  _ Percy asked after a moment when the comment processed.

_ "Excuse me?!"  _ Severus broke in next,  _ "Who?!" _

The familiar looked between them and seemed to realize where the older wizard had just shrugged the realization off with a grin after a moment, the younger parselmouth wasn't taking it well,  _ "Wasss I not to divulge that? I know nothing!!!" _

Rainbow hughed scales hurried into Harry's room to hide and Percy chuckled, "It's alright, Sev."

"The hell it is! I want their name and protruding body parts!" The first echo of thunder mirrored his tone outside and all but shook the castle.

Sirius popped up, "What happened?"

"Harry decided to be an early riser," Percy just put it out there, it wasn't a big deal, as he wrapped around Gellert, "I can only imagine where he gets that from."

The siren huffed, even as he let his husband pull him into a kiss, "Excuse you, Lord Potter, but didn't the two of you become early risers together as well?"

"Guilty as charged," Mat confirmed.

Molly came over to pat Albus' arms, rightly assuming that he hated the occurrence because it was a line every parent hated crossing, while Remus and Cissy took to comforting Severus. Sirius, Tonks, Alice, and Arthur all gather around to speculate on who crossed the line with Harry, while Frank took off to join Molly and Albus. Seeing that everyone was safely in their camp, Minerva went to collect the boys from their agreed upon meeting place after summoning Aberforth.

The boys were wild as bucks and she herded them back up the stairs, so Harry could engage whatever entrance to the Chamber he deemed necessary. She did inspect the Gryffindor and confirmed he seemed jolly as could be. There was no way of confirming if it was post-coital euphoria, completing the transformation, or both.

But he was ecstatic none the less.

The Headmaster's suite was never so full with all the parents, family, children, and all of their familiars. Sirius was a wreck when Harry arrived with the case and kept giving them last minute advice as the furniture was cleared away to give them plenty of room. It was obvious that all five of the boy's parents were checking him over, from physical, to emotional, to mental health, but the truth of it all seemed to be that if Coatl hadn't said anything then no one would have known. And soon the Second Gens were saying their final chant in a circle.

They threw their wands to their fathers for safe keeping. Harry to Severus, Draco to Sirius, Neville to Frank, and the twins to Arthur. Everyone took a deep breath and the boys toasted and drank their potions in a gulp each.

It only took a moment for all of them to go down. Harry could only imagine the other boys saw the same as he did. It was similar to taking that horcrux removal potion, but instead of a green light there was a flash of pure white. It sounded like war drums surrounding him in the light as the double heartbeat grew steadily.

Then up ahead a creature started to emerge. Coming toward him in a feline shape he couldn't help him beam of ecstasy when a wampus emerged with big green eyes. He was on knees and the creature touched noses with Harry before the dreamlike experience began to fade away.

Picking his head up, Harry realized he was laying on his stomach and his head was swimming. Turning a large paw over, it still took him a moment to process what he was looking at, and then he glanced around to check on his friends. He met glances with a silver eyed white direwolf.

That seemed to knock them both out of it.

The wolf and lion jumped up to bump head, then suddenly there was a large bear nuzzling, as well as two foxes yipping around below them. They all pawed and played with one another for a moment, before cheering reminded them that they were not alone. Turning to their families was great and Harry jumped up on the Hard Charger with a purr.

"Look at you, Little Prince," He ran a hand through his mane, "I couldn't be prouder."

When Harry turned to get Sev's approval the vampire noticed a certain snake poking his head around the corner and the parselmouth waved him over. He didn't want the rainboa to miss Harry's big moment because he thought his reveal had been something bad. They'd talk about it later.

After an hour of parading, it truly was time to get the boys back to their human forms, and Percy made Coatl get off Harry where the snake had wrapped around the animagus. It would be nothing for Harry to change back while being hung on eventually, but the first couple times he didn't need any distractions. It took about half an hour of trying, but Harry and Draco turned back at exactly the same time with a high five, then the twins, and finally Neville.

"Well," Minerva closed then out for the evening, "I suppose I'll be seeing all of you for some time yet."

The boys all hugged her and she escorted them, with their familiars, so all the adults could floo home. It took only a wave of their wands to put the furniture back and clean up from the small gathering. After a couple of hours they were all still awake, but managed to get into pajamas when the portrait opened again.

It was Harry, but he was leading Hermione in by the hand, "Hi, can she use the spare? Her Muggle Studies final starts tomorrow."

The poor thing looked exhausted with the renamed Crookshanks in her other arm and Albus snapped his book shut to stand, "I can go break that up…"

"No, please don't," She insisted, "Everyone's having so much fun and I'm the only one with a final left. I don't want to spoil it for everyone."

The Headmaster smiled gently at her, "Alright, sweetheart, help yourself."

"Thank you!"

Harry hugged her and the witch bounced up the hall. When the door closed to her room, the Hard Charger took another look at Harry and noticed something through his thin white undershirt, “That looks like more color than before.”

Flushing the third year smiled and lifted the shirt up, “Just had George do it.”

It was lovely and he’d clearly decided to use his own animagus form as the basis for that tattoo. Quite fitting with the American lion in black and gold, his mouth blood red, and eyes emerald green. Percy told him how wonderful it looked.

Then their grandson's hands slipped into his sweats pockets in a habit he'd picked up from the previous auror, "So, Coatl mentioned that he's a loud mouth…"

The rainboa in question hung his head in shame where it was lingering next to third year's.

So, Percy chuckled and put his work away for the night, "We were a bit surprised. I didn't know you were seeing anyone."

"I'm not…" Harry couldn't stop the flush, but rolled his eyes at himself and said evenly, "We're not dating. It just happened."

"Do you regret it, Little Prince?" Gellert asked what he really cared about.

"Not a bit."

"Well, then, that's all that matters," The siren assured.

Mat jumped up and threw an arm around Harry, "Forget the old grandparents, Little Prince! Let's go to your room and you can tell Tio Lobo everything!"

The Hard Charger rolled his eyes and shook his head as the boy's door slammed shut too and a silencing charm kept them from being nosy, "I don't know what I missed him for anyhow."


	6. Chapter 6

The school year finished up smoothly and the whole family started making plans to go to the upcoming Quidditch World Cup. Of course, the start of July was also the beginning of the conclave that the Vampire Prince was holding on Night Isle, so the family was preparing to be without Percy for a fortnight, even if they were dreading it. Especially the part where they had to explain where the man was going for two weeks when their grandson couldn’t follow.

Percy made it until students left before Harry demanded that he make good on his promise and teach him how to cast Protego Diabolica. And since they had a couple of days before he had to leave, he had the boy bring him down to the Chamber of Secrets to practice it. Didn't take the little fire starter long to figure it out and the vampire appreciated knowing where the boy was when he disappeared from the family's radar.

Mat had begged Harry all night after he'd won the Quidditch Cup for the Gryffindor to tell him about his first time, after all both Flea and James had gone running to the man in Louisiana so they could tell him all about their first, but the teenager had refused. So the guitar player had been begging ever since and Harry refused to tell any of them. And that was the saga the Hard Charger was forced to listen to as he packed.

"...an tell me, Mijo," Mat insisted, stomping around and slamming his stuff into his suitcase next to Percy's, "I'm not going to tell them!"

Harry rolled his eyes, "No." Then he turned big green eyes on the taller vampire to continue pleading his case, "I want to go! Please!"

"No," He said for the hundredth time.

"But…"

"Harry, you cannot go."

"But, I thought Grandpa Flea was supposed to go when he was just a baby!"

That was the first time the teenager had done anything besides beg since he came in from lunch at Hagrid’s and it felt like a hand of ice had just reached out to slap him, because that was exactly what his second son used to always say. Especially when his second chance to go to Time of the Blood came and went. Jimmy usually referred to Flea as ‘the old man’ but other than that it was a spot on quote.

He took a deep breath before demanding, "What? How do you…?"

"Mamie told me! He said at Christmas that it was a vampire holiday and if you said it was okay, then I could go!"

"Oh, I see," Percy shut his suitcase and threw his jacket over it. Harry was sitting just behind both their bags in the center of the bed and he came over to sit next to him, "Harry, this isn't Time of the Blood. It's a conclave. They're different."

Though the Deathly Quartet, because after a year Harry had officially decided that Tio Lobo had spousal status with them if not mate status, didn't know that he knew about them providing a mass removal of Dark Marks, he knew that made it different, "But, Grandpa Flea was born in 1904 and Mamie said it was every ten years."

Percy nodded and explained, "The holiday where Flea was supposed to be presented was in '05. Time of the Blood isn't until next year."

"Oh."

He chuckled and then drummed a hand on the boy's knee, "Do you want to go to Time of the Blood?"

"Mmhmm!" Harry nodded enthusiastically.

Nodding slowly the Hard Charger finally tapped his chin, "Alright, then. We'll go… It'll be over your birthday though and you can't leave until the fortnight is over."

"Okay!"

Seeing that wasn't going to dissuade the inbound fourth year, Percy sighed, "I'll talk to Pépère about it at the conclave. You and I will need to talk more when I get back, but…"

He trailed off and Mat studied him as he hesitated, "Get it out of the way, Perce."

"What?" Harry looked between them confused.

"Son… There's been some talk about you being named heir to Vampire Society after me," Percy finally gave voice to the topic he'd been avoiding with Harry since the boy wrote him that first letter Yule of his first year, "But you don't have to if you don't want to. Flea never accepted. It’s completely..."

"Did Dad?"

"No… Not for lack of wanting to though."

"What do you mean?"

"He never got to go. I didn't let him," Percy confessed, picking at his pants, "Because Pépère and I were fighting."

"Oh."

"Regardless of what you decide though…"

"I want to! I'll accept!" Harry didn't think better of it until the words were out. He'd caught wind of the Liberator's baby fever over the course of Aunt Cissy and Tonks' pregnancies. Even if the man had bothered to be subtle, Harry's third eye was making sure he knew about it, "Unless… I mean… I'd understand if you wanted to wait for the new kid to take it. They'll actually be your kid."

The pair had been doing their absolute best to avoid eye contact amidst the serious discussion, but the way Percy's head tore up like he'd been clobbered had Mateo fighting to keep the grin off of his face. It reminded him so much of when his best friend had been about the same age as Harry and made a similar claim to Père. The Brat Prince hadn't reacted much better.

"You are my kid," He insisted vehemently, one finger pulling Harry's chin up until the teenager looked at him, "And I will eat anyone who says differently until the day I'm dust. You understand me?"

The corner of Harry's mouth quirked up and he nodded. Percy pulled him in for a hug and Mat had to admit they were the cutest thing he'd seen since the first time he saw a direwolf pup. He decided they may as well pull away from the serious conversation as they separated and Percy assured that if Harry wanted to be next in line, then the spot was his.

"I don't want to go, Percy! Don't make me go!" The Original Wolf of Wall Street begged as he shoved things into his suitcase, "Bunch of stuffy Elders that couldn't get laid if there was a stake to their testicles! Let me stay here!"

"You're going," Percy insisted, mostly because he'd need emotional support and couldn't bring any of the non-vampires, since they were taking such precautions to protect the witches and wizards attending’s anonymity.

"Oh, damn it all," He slammed his case and was struck by a thought, "You know what would make this whole thing more bearable, Mijo?"

Harry scoffed and looked at his grandfather, "Do you think Pépère would take him back for keeps?"

Mat rolled his eyes and took their bags into the living room, so Percy pulled Harry under his arm, "Why are you screwing with him?"

"At first it was so my strapping Galahad could graduate unaccosted; the ginger and Pops had strokes when they found out."

"Fair play is fair," Percy allowed with a chuckle. Severus had been leading with his teeth for the last couple weeks and if he'd been able to figure it out everyone would have suffered, "And now?"

"It tickles me."

"Harry!" He tried to scold, but he couldn't stop laughing, "Alright, who was it?"

"Oliver Wood in the Changing Rooms with a…"

"I'm going to stop you right there," The Hard Charger decided quickly, ruffling his already chaotic hair, "Come see us off."

Harry laughed and followed, “Two weeks and you’re back?”

“With the sunrise,” Percy promised, thinking it poetic because he'd promised Père that they'd be there before dark and the sun was currently setting, chuckling when Mat was doing his damndest to convince their resident fae to keep him at Hogwarts on the arm of the Headmaster’s chair.

The ginger just closed his book and waved the wolf off like he would any other annoying gnat, before twinkling blue eyes set their stare on Harry, “You really could have told us. I wouldn’t have done anything to him.”

And the youngest wizard among them only shrugged, “Wasn’t worried about you as much as Pops. Man was on the hunt.”

“I suppose that’s honest enough.”

“Told who what?” Their resident wolf demanded, before it seemed to strike him because his best friends couldn’t fight a grin, “No! You told him? Him?”

Raising both hands in afrontment, the taller vampire demanded, “Why not me?! Fucking jackass.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry,” He apologized, before trying to strike a seductive pose, “You could just…”

“Nope,” Percy brushed him off and went to get a proper send off from his mates.

Harry laughed as Tio Lobo moved to beg him again and hugged the vampire goodbye, “I’ll tell you when you get back.”

“Two weeks?!” He lamented the waiting period until he disappeared in a swirl of green, the Hard Charger rolling his eyes and disappearing right behind him.

They were all sad to see the pair go, but Albus definitely wanted to talk to Harry before he disappeared to the Hog’s Head with his band, and pulled him down on the sofa. It was Friday evening and there was no doubt about here the teenager was heading, “He’s right, you know?”

His grandson flushed, especially when his siren grandfather dropped down on the other side of him, “Harry, honey, I don’t care if we had a hundred kids, you will always be our first. You brought us together when I don’t think anyone else ever could have.”

“Are you going to start trying?”

“Maybe,” Gellert admitted, “If Albus ever stops using the tournament as an excuse.”

“Do you want to try running this circus?!” The fae demanded with a smirk, already breaking for the desk in the corner to get back to work when Harry's aura was already settling into the usual from its insecure state. He'd known something was going on this last week and was glad it wasn't a more difficult fix, “Three schools on top of one another and you call it an excuse!”

Gellert informed their grandson, “He thinks he’s playing hard to get. Your mother had to get it from somewhere.”

The two descended into bickering and Harry grinned. After that it was the same as any other day. Hogwarts was about to be overrun with guests, the Hog's Head was the only bearable spot in town, and he was going to get a drink. He grabbed his jacket off the rack on the way out and said as much.

"The hour's ten, not midnight," Albus reminded.

"I'll see what Gabby has to say about that," The door shut before the last syllable sounded and that was it. He'd be home by midnight.

"I know what he's up to," He insisted with the echo that was left behind, arms crossed as he debated going over to the office before realizing, "Did he just call him 'Gabby'?"

"He's been telling us that he was going to do it for a year," Gellert reminded, "You're supposed to be the peacemaker. Make your peace."

"No. He did," The fae insisted merrily as he realized, "He called him 'Gabby'."

"What in the Morrigan's name are you on about, Albie?" He demanded, moving to clean up and start dinner.

“Harry! He just called my brother ‘Gabby’.”

“And?”

Albus followed him into the kitchen with a huff at remembering that Gellert and Aberforth hadn’t been in the same place before the year prior, “When Harry was a baby, he used to always call the pain in my arse ‘Gabby’... Off the record, I may have taught it to him.”

Gellert threw the dish towel in his hands down for a lack of something more substantial to throw.

“Do you think he remembers that?”

The answer was obvious and Gellert shouldn’t have to bother with responding. Still he hissed, “It’s logical. Magical children start developing memories around six months.”

"I never thought of him remembering us."

The tension in his neck was pulsating enough to cause pain, "There's a long list of things I don't want him to remember."

Realizing the seer was nervous and manifesting, Albus abandoned the table to grab the shorter wizard about his waist and kiss his neck, "Everything will be fine."

"He's gone back to what's essentially auror work. Harry thinks he's not ours after a year. Maybe we shouldn't…"

"He wanted to hear it," Albus insisted with a shake of his head, "And you've always wanted your own Quidditch team, just like Cissy. There is never a good time to have a kid."

"Hmm… Not going to touch on his career?"

The Headmaster sighed and pulled his mate back into the living room for a snuggle. They always had enough leftovers to feed a small army, so no one would starve if the siren didn't make dinner tonight, "G, honey, you have to know how much the world felt his retirement. No other wizard has the near two centuries of experience and established connections that Percy does."

"He did his duty, Odin damn it all, Albus," He couldn't stop the tears that escaped his dark and light eyes, "I know one day he'll be snatched away and…"

"And it's inevitable," The Headmaster felt his gut churn even as he said it. He never wanted to lose any of their family.

It was as Percy preached, however. Death does not negotiate. And they didn't know the where or when of their mate's demise, despite the fact that Gellert had seen a blurred news article that was supposed to be a tribute to the fallen vampire, but even knowing that day would come was haunting.

The seer had been haunted by it since he was sixteen, where Albus was a very new addition to the knowledge. He’d asked Gellert about his death too once and always been assured that he’d die an old man surrounded by his students and bird. When he’d gone looking for the why behind their mate’s constant hatred of the good that Percy did for a living since before he ever knew them, the fae would admit that he’d never expected the answer his lover had given him.

“I was always ready to go first,” Gellert confessed, breaking down into sobs, “Not him.”

“It could be a thousand years from now,” Albus reminded, letting his lover and best friend cry it out, “But we can’t live in fear of it, honey. Do you really want to reach that day and not have had all the babies with him we possibly could?”

That was true enough. He loved his husband so much and they’d been waiting to have babies together, as mates, since the last time the Triwizard Tournament touched their lives. They may have been in competition, but there was no doubt that he and Albus spent a year talking about just making a run for New York City.

"I thought you were playing hard to get?"

"Not when you're this upset," He chuckled, "We've got a two week wait period anyway."

"Are you going to be alright when his name comes out of the Cup?"

"Can you please stop saying it like it's inevitable?"

Gellert shook his head, because Albus really was too old to be in denial about this, "He wants it more than anyone else in the whole school."

"School's empty. Not a high bar to reach."

"Albie… You're the fae. You've seen his aura. Do you really think you can stop him?"

"I'll try," He insisted darkly, "He is only fourteen."

"I'm sure he's forgotten."

The Second Gens and Hermione were usually in the Hog's Head from the time the doors opened at eleven, until they were forced out at quarter til midnight, with the rest of the band coming and going when they could. They'd been hypothetically debating how to get Harry's name put into the Goblet of Fire for a year, even as the adults were still in the planning stages of the event back at Hogwarts, but he already had a plan. Their speculation was mostly for fun.

Mione just did her homework at the bar and insisted he'd never pull it off, but Harry was only fueled by the skepticism. His lioness best friend had earned the nickname 'Mini-McGonagall' since the school year ended and he said it right in front of Gabby's girlfriend too. The lionesses were in accord that he'd never be able to get past the age restrictions though.

As the second week of Grandpa Percy being gone got started, both Aunt Cissy and Tonks went into labor. The adults scattered for St. Mungo's while the teenagers settled in at the bar to wait for their return, deciding the occurrence meant that curfew was suspended. It was already eight o'clock at night anyway.

The next morning they'd all crashed at the Black house with Draco and were there when the families returned. His best mate from Slytherin had a new baby sister, Little Vinda breaking the typical family naming tradition, and Remus presenting his new son, Teddy, named for his father in law. Both were adorable and everyone couldn't get enough of the two.

And life kept moving on. Harry was counting down the last three days until Grandpa Percy came back when he decided to grab Dobby for a butterbeer and went to ask the Headmaster if he was alright, since the little guy was on the clock. He had the twins with him, working on a new tangler that could be deployed aerially after the younger Gryffindor suggested it, but they weren't paying too much attention as they argued behind him.

Busting into the office showed it deserted except for the fire fae, so Harry made with his offer, "Let me take Dobby for an afternoon and I'll come home by ten."

The older wizard smiled and put the letter he'd been reading down, ceasing from chomping on his thumbnail to answer, "Don't go to war over what I'm about to tell you and you can come home whenever you want."

"That doesn't sound good," Harry allowed, hands slipping into the pockets of his leather jacket.

The coat changed to take whatever form his grandson wanted and it was beginning to get a bit poofy. Albus wondered when he was finally going to take the plunge and wear what he really wanted. After all, they all had suspected it for months now.

Though the others hadn't seen it, Albus had when Theseus took him out in the entryway and handed over that bloody collection at Yule. Irma had only confirmed after the fact how much Harry had researched his favorite ace. And the Headmaster's mates had been thoroughly avoiding the topic ever since.

"We need to use the Quidditch Pitch for the third task," Albus sighed and got ready to kiss his arse goodbye, "We're going to have to cancel Quidditch for the year."

The twins stopped trying to strangle one another and turned on him in unison, "Excuse you?"

"Boys…" Albus tried to explain, knowing perfectly well that it wasn't going to make a bit of difference.

"Remember Percy as Head Boy," Fred hissed.

"That was nothing!"

"Small battle in a big war!"

"This will be the real war to end all wars!"

Harry grabbed them both and hauled them toward the stairs. All the Weasleys were all taller, except for Gin, but he'd put on the muscle to strong arm them in the last year, "Alright, let me talk to him. Before anyone says something they can't take back."

"We will burn this whole place down!" Fred cried as he was tossed down the stairs toward the gargoyle.

And Harry watched to make sure they went before turning on his grandfather, waving as he suggested, "Harry, could we talk for a minute? Precious grandchild, who doesn't want me to die horribly, might I disclose something in private? Before I say something so stupid that it might cause my own student body to take my head off like Marie Antoinette?!"

He chuckled and shrugged, before both hands scrubbed over his face as the exhaustion set in prior to the year's commencement, "I can't change it, Harry."

"Can't we just use Sirius' pitch? He'd give us permission," Harry shrugged as he thought it over, "We couldn't do all four Hogwarts teams, but… Yeah, if we did one school team for each school, we'd have just enough weekends to fit the games in, minus Hogsmeade weekends, task weekends, and the Yule Ball."

Astounded that he hadn't thought of that for a moment, it finally struck Albus, "We can't let nearly two thousand students mob Aunt Cissy's house."

"No, of course not!" Harry agreed, "We can create an entrance here that lets everyone out right onto the pitch. They don't even have to know where the pitch is, besides Hogsmeade."

He sat back and thought it over for a moment. Students were going to need every chance to escape the overpopulation nightmare they could. So, finally Albus chuckled, "Alright, Captain Potter. Go get written permission from Sirius and the other school heads. Then I'd suggest getting to work on stands at the pitch; it should keep you plenty busy this summer."

He grinned at the title and got ready to tear out of the office, but the first fae called him back. The Headmaster moved to sit on the opposite side of his desk and straightened the collar of his grandson's jacket out when he wandered back in range. Harry really had shot up like a weed this past year, currently hovering at 5'10, and a voice that had levelled out to a low, dark, timbre with a daringly wide range uncommon for those with a deep voice.

It wasn't as stark as Sev's baritone, but given another couple years… And Harry had finally started showing the first markers of the Prince cheekbones, which were sharp like broken glass. Gellert's were nothing to scoff at and even he was jealous.

Still fixing the collar, he suggested, "You could just wear it as a bomber jacket. It's okay."

"The siren would have a panic attack," Harry muttered, fidgeting uncomfortably at the topic change doing a flip, "And it's not that simple."

"You come from a long line of incomparable pilots. Grandpa Flea flew rescue and aid until the day he died," Albus sighed and smiled at him gently before voicing, "And you're named after the Golden Turul, himself. The Scamander brothers would have never become legends, if they hadn't flown under his command first."

"Yeah…" Harry sighed after a minute and big green eyes finally wandered up to look at his grandfather, "But… Dad told me that I wasn't allowed to be a pilot. No matter what."

"Did he?" Albus was surprised by that. James had wanted to be an auror, just like Percy, and it was hard to believe that he'd have discouraged his son from doing the same thing, "Did he say why?"

"No."

"Hmm… You know he can't actually stop you."

"What kind of son am I, if I can't respect the one thing he asked me not to do?" Harry demanded, tears pooling in his eyes, and Albus pulled him in for a hug.

"Honey…" Albus knew instantly that he couldn't fix this. Even Percy and Gellert felt bad for being so resistant to the idea when they saw how upset Harry was over the issue across his mating bonds, "You know, you could always talk to him about it at Halloween. I'm sure Grandpa Percy would channel him for you."

Necromancy was a branch of magic that only vampires could engage and a person had to be dead for thirteen years before they could reach across it. While it wasn't the same as having someone back, more like an advanced ouija board, they'd been debating if they should let Harry talk to James and Lily for months. And this seemed to be the deciding factor.

No one but Harry could read their letters. That didn't mean he should have to carry the weight of everything in them by himself. It was clear that this pilot thing was eating at him.

"Yeah?"

"Of course," Albus wiped the tears away and fixed his jacket again, "Until then, it's just a jacket. You may as well wear it however you want to."

Harry grinned and it transformed before he ran out to tell the twins to put down their torches and pitchforks. With a new project underway the next two days flew by. Letters to the other school heads proved successful and Sirius gave them permission to begin constructing stands around his indoor pitch.

Karkaroff had put Harry into contact with Viktor Krum by the next morning, who would be the indisputable Captain of the Durmstrang team, and Harry spent a whole day writing that letter. It might be one thing to write to a famous Quidditch star, but it was quite another to write to someone who lost a grandfather to the Liberator's war effort. He'd spent the whole day pacing Albus' office to get help on what to say.

The other seeker's first response was stiff, but polite, and that was really all Harry could ask for. Madame Maxime put him in contact with Adeline Bisset, the new Captain for her school team, and Harry got to work on the practice and match schedules with both of them after turning his team selection into the Headmaster. And he got everyone who played Quidditch, regardless of their placement on the school’s team, to start meeting him at the Black house after lunch to pitch the stands that needed to be on the same par as Hogwarts'. He wasn't expecting Durmstrang and Beaxubaton's students to join them, but many did once given permission, everyone excited to keep Quidditch on the docket.

Though it was an exhausting couple of days, he was still wandering out to the living room in nothing but his Gryffindor sweats and rubbing sleep from his eyes when the floo fired. Albus and Gellert were already there waiting, so they all fought over getting to Percy and Mateo first. Both suspected that Harry knew more than he was letting on from his lack of questions, but neither had the iron stomach necessary to call him on it.

Harry had watched the conclave with his third eye, of course, as thousands were freed from the Dark Mark every night upon the witching hour, but he wasn’t offering that information either.

Harry threw his arms around the Hard Charger and didn't mind almost being broken in half. They all stumbled into the kitchen, magic whisking the suitcases away to be unpacked, and they all gathered around to catch up. After a couple of hours and getting breakfast, the rising fourth year finally went to meet his friends at the Black house, though when he came out of his room it was to a chuckle from his idol.

"You look like Grandpa Orion," He divulged, adjusting the silky black bomber jacket emblazoned with a gold wampus on the inside.

"Really?!" 

Percy smiled as he recalled, "His was brown. He flew with the Royal Air Force during the Second World War."

"I didn't know that."

"Well, when you get done with your stands for the day," He suggested, "I'm sure Abby would tell you all about it."

Harry agreed and flew off to his latest project. He was so clearly ecstatic with the knowledge that all of them resigned themselves almost immediately to him becoming an aerial combat specialist. Percy watched him go and had to admit, "I'm kicking Theseus' ass."

"Why?" Gellert demanded with faux chipperness as he cleaned his crystal ball, "He didn't start the pilot mania in this family."

He scoffed and moved toward their room to lose some layers, "Referring to me, baby boy?"

"Flea was ten years old when you went up for the first time," Gellert reminded, trailing right behind him with Mat and Albus, "Golden Turul's latest accomplishments splayed over every other headline for four years while I was stuck at home with your son chewing my nails down to the quick!"

"You shipped him off to Albus after a year," Percy dismissed, "So he could give us another sixty four years of trouble."

"That happened," The fae grinned, "I couldn't believe Theseus gave up his shrine to Harry."

"Him and Tina are crazy about that kid," He chuckled and had to admit that Theseus did have just about every article and model of his planes that had ever been built before passing them onto Harry. Refusing to worry about it, he pulled the Headmaster into bed, determined to get a hickey on him before Harry stumbled home. 

Mat snorted, "Oh, we're going to start trying just like that?"

"Why not?" Gellert wrapped around him to steal a kiss, "It'll be so much easier if I'm pregnant prior to school starting."

When the siren was sprawled out next to Percy, the Hard Charger stole a kiss, “I haven’t been back in the air since you asked me to retire, but I was thinking…"

“If you want to go back to auror work, fine,” The siren allowed before kissing him again, "Combat pilot, no."

"Deal."

Harry gagged and shook the vision off, but still sent Gabby a patronus of warning that he was crashing with him that night, before going back to checking the three stand foundations that had been finished today, "Visions need an opt out feature."

"Doesn't work that way, cub," Remus offered, smoking from his spot between Pops and Aunt Cissy, "What did you see?"

"The Deathly Quartet are trying."

"I'm surprised they lasted this long," The Potions Master rolled his eyes as he checked the protective magics that he, Remus, Rholanda, and Minerva were responsible for were in place.

“NO!” Aunt Cissy declared, “I can’t try again for two more weeks. Remy, go stop them!”

The werewolf scoffed, “I wouldn’t walk into that suite, if I were on fire.”

All the other kids had cleared out by that point in the evening and Harry was cleaning up for the day, while Sirius and the other Peverell heirs were finally introducing Snow and Mor’du to the babies since they were both a week old. Both canines were very gentle with the babies. And Tonks was already going nuts being away from work, so she was huddled with Kingsley a hundred yards over, just trying to find a little information about her cases.

“Relax, Aunt Cissy,” Harry placated with an eye roll, because everyone knew that her and Grandpa Gel wanted to get pregnant together, “Even if it took right now, he wouldn’t know for a month.”

“I suppose that’s true,” She still huffed unhappily that she couldn’t start trying again though.

Once everything was cleaned up, Harry took Neville and Draco, then went to get that drink. Gabby was thrilled to tell them everything they wanted to know about Grandpa Orion’s impressive career with the Royal Air Force, but it was McGonagall who revealed that the man’s nickname had been ‘Astro’. They were all a little in love with the knowledge.

Neville confessed over the course of the night that he’d asked his parents if they were joining in the current baby boom, but they were quite content with just him, and Remus and Tonks were in no hurry to have more. Harry could tell that he felt a bit left out, but promised he got to claim Teddy, who was only a week old. There wasn’t any need to feel lonesome when they’d all have their pick of little mentees in a couple of years.

Everyone sang too much and drank too much. And he crashed at Gabby’s place, the tavern owner offering his sympathy for anyone having to live in the suite right now, then making sure Harry had his key for any time that he wanted to come over. Didn’t help him at four o’clock in the morning when he still couldn’t sleep and didn’t have access to Grandpa Gel.

So, he booked it for home.

Even the woods were quiet at the time, too early to be night and too dark to be day. The only noise made was when Coatl slithered onto the path leading to Hogwarts to wrap around his human. It was a Sunday and everyone was taking the next day off from their construction project, so Harry was fine to smoke himself into unconsciousness for a few hours.

He had to admit that this was the first time he’d taken Grandpa Gel’s warnings about his third eye’s growth spurt seriously. Even as he walked through the woods with no one but his familiar it felt like his mind was about to vibrate out of his head. It had only started in the last week and he’d said Harry could get a joint whenever he needed one, but it just hadn’t occurred to him that it would be this bad.

Hopefully he’d get a break when the World Cup came around. Harry was not going to miss the opportunity come hell or high water. Even if he had to get stoned to endure it.

The castle was quiet, Coatl sharing that even Pops was asleep after having shut down his lab when the rainboa left the hour before, so everything was still as could be. Even Hogwarts’ ghost population seemed to be missing, or having a meeting, and so he went onto the suite. Ariana’s depiction was chipper as ever when he came home and it just didn’t occur to him that anyone might be up.

Green eyes matching his proved that to be a dangerous thought in his family, “Hey, Mijo.”

“Hey, Tio Lobo,” He threw his jacket on the coat rack and sent his t-shirt off to his room with a flick of a hand, “I think my third eye is going to manifest on my forehead and Le Libérateur said…”

Mat just chuckled and waved him off, “I’ll get it. We’ve all been warned.”

“This is ungodly,” Harry noted as he flopped down on the couch, “Don’t think I’ll survive a year of this.”

“That last year before you’re fully developed is the worst,” He noted as he sat back down on the couch and gave Harry a lit joint, “You dad’s was linked to his genie inheritance and that year before he turned sixteen was rough as hell.”

“It’s like the double heartbeat before I transformed, but located in my bloody head.”

Mat watched him for a few minutes. Harry was cute hacking up a lung when he took too large an inhale, but otherwise settled into the activity just fine. Getting the kid a glass of water, he’d already thrown up a silencing barrier, and wasn’t surprised when the teenager demanded that he play something.

It was soothing.

After half an hour though, the wolf had every intention of collecting on Harry’s deal, “So, I’ve waited two whole weeks. Who done it?”

Harry snorted as he went to light a second joint, “Oliver Wood. After we won the Cup.”

“Thank you,” He huffed at finally finding out the big secret. Percy was many things, including steadfast, and he hadn’t talked for two whole weeks no matter what bribes or torture was threatened, “Of course, second notch is more important than the first in the grand scheme of things.”

His… The teenager groaned and that dark head fell back against him until Harry could look up at the vampire, “So Gabby’s been warning me… I don’t know how I got the first one.”

“And that’s okay,” Mat promised with a chuckle, “It’s not a race. If you can make them both count, then you’re ahead of eighty percent of the population.”

“Who was your second?”

He made a noise of discontentment and confessed, “A vampire called Armand. We saw him at the conclave, actually.”

“How’d Grandpa do?”

“I don ‘t know who was worse,” He chuckled, “Him or Pépère.” When got a confused look from the rising fourth year, the older man elaborated, “Armand also dated Mamie. He’s got a thing for green eyes. Which reminds me, should you ever meet him…”

“I’ll promptly go the other way,” Harry promised around an inhale, “I don’t want to go back Monday.”

“Then don’t. It’s your summer vacation.”

“We need to get the stands built before the World Cup match," Harry sighed, “So Grandpa Albus can have them inspected and passed while we’re gone.”

“Regret signing up?”

“Not once my head stops vibrating.”

Both of them jumped when someone gasped behind them and were confused on top of it. The near identical duo looked back to find the Liberator looking at them like someone had just declared him infirtle, but Harry was the one to arch a brow, “Hey, Grandpa?”

“You blazed with him!” Gellert demanded in a huff, gesturing to their pair, “Before I did!”

“Technically,” Mat corrected, trying to assume an innocent position, and failing when Harry just laid against him and took another hit, “I let him blaze in my presence and… You were asleep!”

“Odin forbid, I should go to sleep,” The siren declared, marching over to them from the hall, “I’ve been waiting for two months since he started having his growth spurt…”

“Grandpa,” Harry hissed, “I hate to interrupt, but if you could not yell…”

“Oh, sweetheart,” Gellert insisted, dropping down on the sofa and forcing the Original Wolf of Wall Street off of it, “I’m sorry. Are you okay?”

“Maybe…” Harry allowed, “My head still feels like it’s trying to come off.”

“That’s just part of the experience, Little Prince,” Gellert allowed, “Are you hungry?”

The teenager groaned, “Not even a little.”

“Smoke a little more and I’ll start on breakfast.”

Once the older seer was gone into the kitchen, Mat rolled eyes, but reclaimed his spot. No one would ever say he wasn't a mother dragon over his little hatchlings.

"You're my parent too, you know."

Startled he looked down at the Boy Who Lived and realized that he must have picked up on a certain level of his insecurity empathically. The fae trait was building up steadily like so much else of Harry's magic. And Mat had been pondering the thought ever since they left for the conclave.

"Yeah?"

"Of course."

Mat was a little surprised when Harry reached up to touch his feathers, but it wasn't the first time. Unlike wizards of European descent, he didn't use a wand to channel his magic, and instead used wandless. Anything more powerful came through his use of the feathers that Morana had given to him and that Percy decorated when they turned eleven.

"Do you think I could learn wandless magic?"

"Sure, Mijo. You'd pick it up in a jiffy."

"But you still need a vessel, right?"

"Yes," He shrugged and teased, "I think you might have such a thing coming on your birthday, actually."

"Really?! What?"

"Now, now. I couldn't possibly say."

"Please!"

"No, no, I couldn't."

"Oh, come on…"

After that the Original Wolf of Wall Street became Papa Lobo instead of Tio, but the summer seemed to fly by without regard for the change. All the adults couldn't believe it when Harry had the stands done by his birthday, but the teenager managed it with the extra help from Durmstrang and Beaxubaton's students. After trading several letters with Krum, who was stuck in training for the World Cup near constantly, Albus was happy they were on much friendlier terms.

Harry did a great job of neither glorifying nor cowering from Gellert's legacy. It was still hard to see a teenager made to answer for his decisions though. And Albus knew he was more than relieved for any chance he got to prove that he'd do better.

Percy had already warned them about the gift Père was giving Harry that was largely from the whole family. They'd all had to sign off on the change in magic through Gringotts anyway. The ring turned out splendidly, as all of Violetta Beauvais' works did.

They'd had all of the wizarding seats that Harry was set to inherit linked to the piece, because between the Potter, Graves, Dumbledore, Prince, and Grindelwald lines, they all had different traditions for heirs that needed to be brought together. Since Harry was taking over for all of them whenever that time came, they'd gone ahead and signed for the ring to become the new lordship marker for all the seats after their passing.

Lestat had used the Gryffindor ring that Percy returned to him as the base, then surrounded it by a silver snake with emerald decorations surrounding it to perch on the golden beast's forehead like Harry and the Hard Charger's tattoos. Nanny had also infused a diamond in the bottom between the two bands made from the ash of a feather from Iggy, Hektor, and the scales of a Hungarian Horntail after Albus called in a favor from Charlie Weasley. The teenager was excited to start learning wandless magic right away.

And none of them could believe that it had been a year since Percy found Harry in London and their family reconvened. Standing at the joint party for him and Neville, watching the kids play a pickup game amidst the newly built stands was great. While Albus' vampire mate had made good on his promise to build a house in Hogsmeade, they'd never moved into it and the property had been taken over by the Longbottoms so it didn't sit empty, but all the boys were excited when Albus finished constructing the new shortcut between Hogwarts and the Black house's pitch.

The first two weeks of August were over in a blink and in that time Percy finished his negotiations with the Ministry. They'd created a Director role for him, which had Sirius and Theseus making all sorts of jokes about how fun time was over, but he was scheduled to go back to work as an auror two weeks from the World Cup match. Right along with school starting.

With the inspector coming the next day to check over the next Quidditch Pitch, Albus was just lounging on Harry's bed while he languished over the drawings George sent him, trying to decide which tattoos he was going to get before the match. He'd already gotten a wand tattoo for easy storage of the tool and his wampus and rainboa combo. Now he needed brands for his other familiars and a dragon for the Grindelwald family, but he was also finished with the design for a large back tattoo.

"Go for the three smaller brands," He finally suggested, "It'll drain your magic less. Last thing your third eye needs is to get too low in a crowd that size."

Harry tapped his nose, "Good point."

"Are you sure you're all packed?"

"Yes, Grandpa."

"Keep Iggy with you."

"I know."

"And Hektor."

"Alright."

"Try to stay with Grandpa Per…"

"Grandpa!"

"Fine, fine," Albus ignored Fawkes when the bird rolled his eyes in tangent with the teenager and abandoned the bed for the trees, "We settled on the terms for the Goblet."

Harry flopped on the bed next to him, "And?"

"And it's still seventeen and up only."

"Not the question I had in mind."

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "He didn't add in an escape clause."

"Yeah!" Harry cheered, fists raised in excitement.

They'd been having the debate all summer and his lovers were no help. The knowledge that if he could get his name inside then placement in the contest was assured would only fuel Harry more and Albus was honestly getting sick of fighting him over it. Terrifying as the thought of him entering was, the worst of it was probably feeling like an outside to the rest of their excitement for him to try, but it was also his job.

“Harry…”

“I’m doing it,” Harry insisted, “Now, deal!”

And he did. If not very well.

The next morning everyone in the Hogsmeade crew was meeting at the Black house to portkey to the camping grounds and even just their party was already a circus. 

Hermione and Dudley flooed in the night before and she stayed over in the guest room, while Harry’s cousin crashed with him, so they added three to the circus, while Percy and Mateo were going as their portion of the adult supervision. It made the most sense, as Albus had the inspector coming, Gellert dreaded even thinking of the crowds, and Lestat was performing at the opening. The Headmaster’s vampire-in-law had also offered to play the Yule Ball for free and everyone was very excited.

Cissy was staying home with Vinda for some girl time and Minerva was staying with her just to get out of the castle, while Abby and Sirius were taking Draco and Neville. Remus thought about going, but with Tonks back to work, Teddy, and the full moon three days away, he was exhausted. Harry’s potion helped so many live their lives instead of being ruled by the lycanthropy, but many of the bodily effects were still there. The young potions genius would say that he was working on it, but for now the werewolf was just going to crash at Sirius’ place with Cissy and Minerva.

Frank and Severus had discussed going, but Quidditch was neither wizards’ scene, and it was really an event where everyone going should be as enthusiastic as possible. They had enough adults to cover the spread of children as it was. No reason to add to the overpopulation nightmare.

The boys were wild as damn bucks and their familiars were feeding off of that energy. Coatl wasn’t going, but it was mostly because they worried about the crowds reactions; it didn’t stop the snake from coming to see his human off though. The three couldn’t sit still, then there was Hermione sitting on the sofa under Percy’s arm watching the anarchy in unveiled exasperation already.

When it was finally time to go, however, the madness of home was nothing compared to the camp ground. They landed at the exact same time as the Scamander crew and all eight of their grandchildren, being led by Tina, while her husbands were responsible for herding the kids behind her. Percy hugged the witch who was like his first and only daughter, then they all got moving to their shared tent.

They were the first to arrive to the massive dwelling just fifty yards away from the tents housing the two finalist teams. Once everything was set up and unpacked, Percy kicked the kids out to explore the vendor and food stands that they’d passed by for a couple of hours, then went with Sirius and Theseus to meet with the Minister of Magic just to get it out of the way. As expected it was just another attempt to get him to start immediately, but unless there was an emergency he wasn’t starting until September 1st; his husband had baby goals and the world was just safer if he tried to meet them before returning to auror work.

By the time they got back the reigning Prince of Vampire Society had arrived with his mate, as well as the Weasley crew and the Diggory men. They got one surprise visit from Viktor Krum, the Quidditch star looking to finally introduce himself to Harry, but he couldn't wait around very long given the upcoming match. And when the kids finally returned to find out, Ron was positively forlorn at having missed a chance to meet his favorite seeker, a comment which had Harry giving him the cold shoulder as George got to work on his tattoos.

"...of the proleagues. I meant of the proleagues," He really was trying to grovel his way out of trouble by that point.

Harry just ignored him, warning George when he did something wrong on Hedwig, before the Snow Phoenix could take a nip at him, because she was watching intently from her place on Luna's lap. Hektor was much more chill and waiting patiently for his turn from a perch on Mat's guitar case with Tanda. And the Hungarian Horntail Harry was getting on his chest was just something his mind's eye came up with. Percy took his cigar and drink to inspect the new brands and they were impressive.

Nothing as encompassing as the back brand his grandson wanted, but impressive in their artistry as the older teen finished a few hours later. And with just enough time for the healing charms to be thrown on before the teenagers rushed to change. The adults were all ready and enjoyed watching them scurry.

Percy trailed Harry around the tent and had to admit that he'd been in a bit of denial concerning just how much his grandson had filled out. It wasn't just working at Hagrid's, though that helped, but also where the fourteen years old had started working out. He knew it happened; he'd fielded the questions about it. But the results were just sneaking up on him.

He'd picked up the kid a year before and now Harry was undeniably a young man. And once he got the back tattoo, he'd probably have less skin left than Sirius. 

Hedwig was on his right shoulder and sat in a pretty and regal pose until she flared her wings. Even that was more of a glide then a thrashing from the depiction, although it caused a lovely spiral of gold fire to shoot down Harry's arm, leaving behind the Dumbledore family's call to arms. The fire was an exact replica of what Iggy could do, the color matching her eyes once they returned from her forming her initial bond with the teenager.

'Fire lights the way, but leaves only ash' was written in Albus' elegant handwriting just below the wand tattoo on his forearm in gold.

Then Hektor's depiction released a twisting cyclone of black fire and mist, but his still pose was decidedly like a looming predator, and the flare of his wings a threat from the image's place on Harry's left shoulder. The turul was very excited by the brand and bounced around making sure everyone saw it, young think that he still was despite having reached full size. Percy couldn't feign surprised at the words on his other forearm in his own personal bold script in black.

It was dark and imposing in any language, 'Death does not negotiate. Nor do we.'

The Hungarian Horntail on his chest was impressive and not what truly had Percy's husband having a heart attack back at schools. It was well drawn though and had the core of the fire breathing reptiles right over Harry's sternum, showing off the famous tail that the species was known for, before the wings sprawled and it breathed fire down below to the bottom of his pecks. When it receded the words of House Grindelwald were left behind in fire red in the Liberator's handwriting.

'Here be dragons' was on the curvature of one peck and on the other was 'and our fire consumes all'. 

Gellert was about to give himself an anxiety attack. But it was what Harry wanted and looked good. When all three creatures flared their wings as they were made to do at the exact same time, the tips of each animal's appendage touched one another, either just below his collar bones, or right below the back of his neck.

On the top of his forearms he's gotten brands of Tala and Amarok on the right and left respectively. The fire twists disappeared below for a stunning portrait of the two direwolves howling at night. Their resident shewolf called to a full moon and her brother to a new moon. But George had outdone himself and Mat was mushy about the whole thing.

Of course it was all covered up when he slipped into a red dress shirt and his bomber jacket. The coat really did cover up all the muscle Harry had put on, but that wasn't necessarily something to object to. Being his father, it meant less people to chase away.

They hiked their way from the camp to the pitch and through the cacophony of drunker than skunk observers to make it to their private box. Doing a head count it was a miracle when they hadn’t lost anyone on the way, even if little Luna was tucked under Harry’s arm in alarm from all the people pushing and shoving like jackals, but they’d made it. And the little elf seemed to perk up when the Addamses were already there waiting for them.

Gomez already had drinks ordered, bless him, and cigars ready to pass out at the tables for the adults, while the kids all but fell out of the box as they crowded right by the edge to see all the commercials and pre-show performances that were currently highlighted on the larger than life reflector screen that the Hard Charger had designed just for the event. The witches were gathered together on one side and Harry was acting as a bridge between them and the absolutely rambunctious boys, the lot only getting worse when Lestat de Lioncourt finally took to the stage. Mamie was sitting next to him and Percy could tell the older vampire wasn’t even fighting an eye roll; he’d just resigned himself to his mate’s adoration of the spotlight.

They'd offered the Addams family a place in their tent for the night, but they'd only come for this match of the event because, as Gomez reminded enthusiastically, Morticia did not camp. Not even if lives depended on it. Or perhaps even more so when they did.

When the mascots appeared all the kids enjoyed their dosing of the race’s golden mist, which induced happiness and excitement, but was easy to build up a resistance to. The adults, as a result, didn’t get too rowdy across the stadium, but it wasn’t really for them anyway. He could have lived with them trying if it meant his family wasn’t interrupted during a fun outing though.

“Louis! Percival!”

His hand clenched onto Mat’s leg under the table and growled.

“Armand!” The green eyed vampire smiled at his friend, before turning to Percy, “Be nice.”

“I would rather eat dirt.”

The shorter man sighed, “He’s got Marius with him.”

“I’ll endure,” The Hard Charger allowed, getting up quickly.

“Thank Mary and Morgana,” His lover hissed, “Because I’m not sure my leg would have!”

Percy rolled his eyes as they turned to go greet the two vampires, “Alright, Llorona.”

Gomez scoffed behind him and the other vampires went back to their conversation with Abby. Sirius had joined Arthur and the Scamanders at the other table, but no one else was Père’s heir and expected to put on for the fanged elite though. It wasn’t even that bad when Marius was the one he got to interact with, even when he had the auburn pinhead with him.

“Marius,” Louis kissed both his cheeks and moved to get between his son and Armand by doing the same to his old friend, “We missed you at the conclave.”

“Louis,” The silver blonde vampire with long flowing locks grinned at him, clearly knowing why the younger man moved off so quickly, then he turned to Lestat’s son, “Percival.”

“Marius!” It was easy to kiss the two millenia old vampire and be pulled into a tight embrace. He wasn’t their family by blood, but the man always had a grandfather like feel to him for Percy, “I finally come back to Night Island and you weren’t there? I was worried it was personal!”

“Never, my boy,” When they separated Marius fixed his leather jacket, but there was nothing to fix about his red velvet coat that hadn’t been out of place in all the memories he had of the man from childhood on, “What’s this I hear about you coming out of retirement already?”

“Duty calls.”

The blonde chuckled, “It must. I hated missing your father’s announcement, but I’m certainly glad you’ve gotten your hands on your true heir.”

“Me too.”

“Oh, Louis,” Armand jumped on the onyx haired vampire, hands tangling in his grey suit as he begged, “Can we meet him?! Can we?! Please!!”

“Certainly not,” Marius cut the younger vampire’s response off, blue and gold eyes shooting over to land right on Harry, because even in the throng of children of course he knew which one was Percy’s instantly, “He’s with his friends. I’d much rather his introduction to us not be laced with resentment.”

“No,” A familiar voice joined them at last and, despite the growl in it, Percy was nothing but relieved when Père arrived. He glided in with a glare for Armand and sent the smaller brown eyed boy scattering away from his mate by a few feet, “We wouldn’t want that.”

Percy and Marius met glances when it happened and both grinned, the older vampire’s lazy for how often he’d had to endure this particular show, but no worse for the performances. And it was that stray thought from the Elder that had him chuckling and running a hand across red velvet in a bit of a pat, “If he gets pissy with anyone, it can be with me.”

One of the veela mascots for Bulgaria was trying to seduce Harry, but it looked like the teenager’s siren inheritance had him well and truly immune much to the woman’s irritation. It only took a quick sharp whistle that had developed between them in the last year to have the Gryffindor whipping around looking for him. Didn't seem like he minded being pulled from the onslaught either.

He bounced over and Armand tried to get to him before he could reach Percy, which had the youngest vampire among them irate in a split second. His hands wrapped in Harry's jacket and the fourteen year old jumped at the unexpected assault as the vampire pawed at him, "My, my, he's even better looking from the front."

Luckily Marius broke from their pair off and seized his paramour by the back of his shirt to haul and toss the smaller man away, "Have you no shame?! You frightened him! I cannot take you anywhere."

The scarlet vampire pouted, but Percy was too busy trying to keep the grin off his face. Père didn't bother and laughed.

"You alright, Little Prince?"

"Fine, Pépère," Harry muttered, straightening out his outfit as he glared in his assailant's direction.

"Pay him no mind," The Royal Brat suggested from his place wrapped around his mate, "It's only Armand."

"Oh," Harry's sneer was so spot on for Severus in that moment, as his emerald eyes flicked up and down the vampire, that Percy couldn't stop a grin, "I've been warned."

Marius threw his head back and laughed, "The honesty of youth. I miss it."

"Harry, come here, son," Percy waved him over and let him take in the only man who was just as tall as the Hard Charger, "I want you to meet the only man your grandfather actually listens to, Marius de Romanus."

"He listens to someone? He can do that?"

It was said with such genuine confusion that Marius laughed again.

Père threw in though, "Watch it. I don't have to take that kind of attitude."

"Sorry, Pépère," Harry was grinning even as he said it, but he still moved to shake the ancient vampire's hand, "A pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine, Harry," Marius was the only man who could turn a handshake into a kiss on the knuckles and it never be sleazy. All his grandparents met glances when the boy's caramel cheeks tinted pink, but by some miracle he was saved by the announcer gearing up to announce the players. When his dark head flew toward his friends and the game about to erupt, Marius smiled and excused him like a gentleman, "I think I've stolen you from your first World Cup long enough. I'll see you at Time of the Blood next year."

"I can't wait," Harry beamed before bouncing back to the other kids.

Percy invited Marius to join them, Armand was just an unpleasant bonus, and everyone settled back at their table. The Irish National Team was introduced first, then the Bulgarians. Each player's name was said and everyone cheered, but when Krum came out last the whole damn stadium shook.

Ron almost fell out of the box.

And Hermione offered to help Wednesday push, even as the twins hauled him back to safety with Harry.

With his friend almost plummeting to death, Harry didn't notice the professional seeker scanning the stands, but Percy did. And he could almost bet what the older teen was looking for after he'd risked being mobbed by fans to drop by their tent. He spotted the Hard Charger first and then scanned the band of teenagers.

At first the Wampus’ biggest question was how the hell he knew which of them Harry was, but he clearly did because he took off for their box instead of joining his team. Then it occurred that the Durmstrang students who’d been helping in Hogsmeade were probably feeding their captain information, despite the fact that he’d been stuck in training for this match all summer. For a stadium that had just been roaring, everyone was suddenly staring at the two as the Bulgarian flew right up to the box despite his coach losing his absolute shit below.

“Viktor Krum,” He introduced himself, right hand going out for Harry to shake.

“Harry Potter,” His grandson responded in kind and a bit confused, while Ron was being physically restrained by the twins’ iron grip after they’d gotten a look from Arthur.

“I was hopink,” The man’s accent was thick, but not unpleasant, “Dat we could talk after te match. I feel like my team’s been runnink amok in your Hogsmeade wit no supervision.”

Harry grinned, “We couldn’t have finished the stands without them.” He stuck his hand out to shake with the Durmstrang student again and agreed, “I’ll see you when you get out of the winner’s circle.”

“Right,” Krum smirked and flew off to get an absolute mouthful from his coach.

And Ron finally made a break from his brothers and grabbed Harry's hand, a small miracle of the whole blasted thing being when the cameras abandoned their view of his grandson and focused in on the Bulgarian coach going purple in the face as Krum grinned. That didn't stop the youngest Weasley boy from cradling his best friend's hand like it had touched the face of God. Or Harry from getting fed up as the taller boy went on and on and finally slapping some sense into him.

All the redhead cared about was that he then shared Viktor Krum's germs though.

Marius sat back with a chuckle and confessed, "This is certainly more interesting than the Elders' box."

"The Little Prince gets his sensationalism honest," Louis noted and grinned at his mate.

They were still locked at the mouth when the final horn rang and the match began. Percy rolled his eyes and tried to focus on the game, unfortunately there wasn't a lot to see. He didn't know what the fuck the Bulgarian keeper want doing, but it was not defending the goals. And it was like their chasers couldn't get the lead out.

Even Abby got tired of yelling by time Ireland was up by 130 and Bulgaria hadn't gotten past their first score. It was a right nasty moment when the penalty was called. Harry's new friend wound up with a broken nose from a bludger to the face, but then still charged after the snitch to claim it prior to Lynch. By then it wasn't enough to win them the match, but it was a better loss than 320-10.

Everyone cheered and seemed to agree simultaneously that Krum couldn't carry the team by himself. Harry was under Percy's arm as they all filed back to the tents for a night of revelry and partying, but his grandson agreed with the others, "...on't think it'll be the same story with the Durmstrang team."

"No?" Marius inquired, "Why not?"

"He's got years of experience playing with them. This team was formed when?" Harry speculated, "The start of the summer?"

"Hmm… An interesting perspective."

"Did you see him take that bludger though?" Pugsley demanded as he was trapped similarly to Harry.

Gomez had Dudley under his other arm too. Percy knew the two had stayed in touch and that they still practiced as beaters together. So he wasn't surprised.

"Quigley's got sharp shooter aim!" Dudley agreed, "But, Krum's a beast."

They made it about an hour in the tent before a sprite little witch turned up in black slacks and a red polo. Harry seemed to have figured their meet up was cancelled after the way the game had gone for Krum. He was quickly corrected by the team representative though and she asked that he come along to the Bulgarian team's tent.

Percy watched him go with only Iggy and Hektor, while the twins were sitting on their brother to keep him from trying to follow, and Luna trailed after the pair to go look for other nifflers with Newt's graying familiar. He and Père shared a look when the youngest of their line disappeared and it took him a moment to realize what the blonde vampire was trying to imply, "No? You think?"

"I know flirting when I see it."

"Fuck."

The tent housing the Bulgarian team was beautiful and everything was draped in scarlet and black. It was certainly less crowded than their current lodging, every player having their own room, but the large communal area was filled with games and entertainment. Despite their loss the team was still having a party and once Harry was inside the sweet aid named Lisa left him to search for Viktor on his own.

He met several of the other players and they directed him to a loft where the seeker usually squirreled away as soon as he was able when not in his room. Climbing a series of rope ladders like a complex jungle gym of black leather, he finally found the older teenager aloft on a rampartlike shelf and swung over. Harry wasn't quite expecting him to be gazing out of a small tent flap and watching the parties outside, instead of attending the rager below.

"Shouldn't you be soaking in the glory of carrying the whole team as a solo act?" Harry demanded, "Or unconscious somewhere?"

Dark eyes had flown to him as soon as he stayed speaking and the taller boy shook his head to clear it, but when he turned there was still bruising flaring out from his nose, like ink dropped in a glass of water. He still grinned at the Boys Who Lived though, "Everyone wants a shot at a famous Quidditch star. The novel does wear off fast dough."

"Hmm…" When his gaze wandered back outside, Harry was still watching him, not feeling much need to correct him to 'novelty' when he got what the professional seeker meant, "Do you want something for that bruising? Looks brutal."

"Magic's too low," Viktor shrugged, "Tey gave me Mlyako ot maka earlier, so I'm truly numb from here up."

Harry's head tilted as he tried to translate what that meant, "Wait, I can figure this out. I know Hungarian… Mlyako… Isn't that poppy? Yeah, it is. So, pain potion?"

That got the more dour man to laugh, "Yes. Dat's it." He turned to face Harry on the bench, mirroring the other's cross legged posture, "Be honest wit me, how bad were my players?"

"They were great," Harry promised. Durmstrang had three school teams and they all showed up to work on the stands everyday. They talked about the project and schedules for a bit, then Viktor changed the subject.

"You learned Hungarian from te Liberator?"

"Yes," Harry nodded, noting how all of the Bulgarian's r's sounded like he was roaring.

"Do you know any oter languages?"

"Gaelic, Spanish, and French."

"Aren't you impressive?"

Harry huffed, "My family gave me no choice in the matter."

Cracky voice and all, they'd wanted him to know the languages they did, and it turned into a bit of a competition. He couldn't write any of them, but he'd become a fluent orator of all four. It was funny being the only one who could translate all of them though, whenever the Hard Charger and his wolf tried to get away with something in spanish, or Grandpa Albus and Gabby fought in Gaelic. Being the resident code breaker wound up a cushy spot to have.

They heard someone squeal and looked back outside. Luna was showing off Niff and some babies that she'd found to a gaggle of kids and Harry told the Bulgarian who she was. Watching for a few minutes, he was surprised when the older seeker inquired, "She your girl?"

He grinned, "No, we're both free agents. Would you like to meet her?"

"No, I was…" He flushed and shook his head, "Can't go out dere anyway. We'd get mobbed in a second."

It shouldn't have taken him so long to realize, but it struck Harry at that moment, "Have you been out of this tent since the summer started?"

"Only for practice and games."

Harry rolled his eyes and waved for the near seventh year to follow him, "Come on."

"Where are we goink?"

"Out to explore. Come on."

"But, tey are all drunk," Viktor insisted, even as he climbed down the ropes following Harry's descent, "It will be all te worse."

"They won't even know we're out there," Harry assured.

The party was crowded and it was no problem to sneak out. They passed a mirror and Harry took Vik's hand to show him how he could make them both invisible. He didn't reveal what on him enabled the change, well aware someone would try to take the coat if they ever knew what it was, but that didn't mean he shouldn't use it to help a friend.

They left and Viktor got to do all the things that Harry and his friends had done earlier in the day. He let the older teenager enjoy the sensation of freedom and set the pace of their activities. In between visiting vendors and getting food they talked a lot.

About their families, the good and the bad.

And he made sure to put enough money in the tip jars to cover anything either took. They weren't looking to steal from anyone. Just have a little fun while the chance presented itself.

Around midnight they finally hauled themselves back to the Bulgarian tent and Harry was expecting that to be the end of their night. Getting an invitation to come back to the other player's room was a surprise, but it struck him what the wizard had asked about Luna earlier. Genuinely enjoying being around Viktor, he accepted the offer.

With only Oliver to compare the seeker to, there were certainly differences. His first lover was sweet and tender, where his second was rough and demanding. He didn't really have a preference for one over the other; they were just different.

Oliver tasted like honey and smoked meat, an almost cedar like taste that was reminiscent of his name, while Viktor tasted like ice cold sea water and his tongue caused a sensation like sand in the most pleasant way. It made him tingle all over.

The seeker was shocked when he had tattoos and was still tracing them as they laid in his bed after both climaxed. Harry broke quickly to check his watch, but it wasn't quite two o'clock yet. And search parties hadn't been sent out, so he was just assuming all forms of curfew were suspended with the Hard Charger's blessing.

"That is gorgeous," Viktor noted of the pocket watch.

It was black and had a set of white gold teeth with extended vampire fangs dripping with rubies of a descending size like blood, as well as a silver serpent entangled around the design. The head of the serpent centered right in the middle of the watch and hissed from its place among the teeth. Harry handed it over to him for examination, "The Prince pocket watch. Pépère had it made for my Grandma Eileen when she went to school."

Dark eyes glanced down to scrutinize him, "You call Lestat de Lioncourt 'Pépère'?"

Harry giggled, "Yes."

Vik was also fascinated by the back brand Harry wanted as the Hogwarts student described it, "Can I see it? Once it's done?"

"Sure," Harry shrugged, "I'll wait to put it on until you get there, if you want."

"I'd like to see your George in action," He grinned and ran a hand over the roaring lion on Harry's stomach, "You are really going to enter?"

"If I can, I will."

"My Headmaster will not be pleased. He wants badly to show your grandfader up."

"Best of luck to him," Harry scoffed.

"Just between us, I tink te whole school would enjoy Karkaroff beink put in his place."

"We'll see if we can't make that happen."

Viktor stole another kiss, but neither of them were expecting the night to be broken up by a scream. They shared a look before jumping up to throw on their clothes and tearing from the room to investigate. Harry had a cynical thought that the universe was against him basking in any sort of afterglow.

The other team members met them in the common space and followed the pair out to see what was happening. The first thing Harry saw was fire; more specifically golden fire that burned hotter than any dragon. And he knew Iggy and Hektor were already in the fray.

With a second look he realized the flames were surrounding Luna and her band of small children, as well as a small menagerie that had formed sometime in the last couple of hours, and the Snow Phoenix was pissed. There was a horde of lunatics wearing masks and black robes casting unforgivables left and right, seeming to just try spreading distraction as far was they possibly could, but luckily Hektor was descending from the skies with a responding shriek to surround the bastards in onyx fire. Harry jumped down the porch stairs that led to the Bulgarian tent to get to his familiars as the destruction was stopped by the impenetrable turul flames.

"Hektor, gas them!" He instructed and the creature soared up above the party of twenty to conjure a special most that would put the lot to sleep.

Harry thought that was it as the air was already starting to clear around them and the night had gone quiet. Then there was a flash of green in his peripheral.

He threw up his strongest shield in time to block the killing curse and turned to see who was trying to kill him now. His third year had started off with a bang. Why not this one?

The man certainly wasn't anyone he'd seen before. He was strawberry blonde and about the same height as Harry. But pale as any ghost and he was covered in freckles, "Harry Potter, thank you for joining the party."

"This is a party?" Harry hissed, gesturing to the anarchy that had only started to settle, "Who the hell are you?"

"Barty Crouch Junior, leader of the dark faction still sworn to the ideals of our lord," He just kept coming closer and closer. Harry let him, because it seemed the simplest way to do things, "The true heir of Slytherin. He might have perished to the American abomination, but I shall be your en…"

He got in range and Harry threw one punch as hard as he could. Moron went down like a ton of bricks and he rolled his eyes, "Well, that was fun."

Ivan, one of Viktor's beaters, snorted behind him, "That was fabulous."

Clara and Alexei, two of his chasers giggled off to the other side, but it was the first who asked, "Can we keep him, Vik? Can we?"

"The American abomination might object," His lover muttered with an eye roll.

Harry huffed and moved over sent a patronus to the grandfather in question describing situation, including the numbers after a headcount of twenty-four Death Eaters surrounded by turul fire and one down from a clobbering, asking that he send around adult supervision when he had the time, then he moved to check on Luna and the kids. She had half a dozen of them and the poor things were terrified, even as Iggy released the golden flames that had shielded them. Viktor and his team offered a nice distraction as it reminded them of the fun they'd been having before the attack, so the team of seven pulled them into the tent for prizes for bravery and until their parents could be located.

Luna and Iggy went with the kids and took the other magical creatures to keep them entertained, so Harry just took a seat on the porch to keep an eye on Crouch and the masked terrorists. Hektor came over and perched on his knee, because small children tended to be unnerved by the creature. Now that the turul was full grown his eyes had returned from green to their original appearance as endless pools of fog and he could see where it would be very strange for little kids.

He still showered the big guy with praise though.

It took about ten minutes before the cavalry showed up and he was irate. Not at Harry, but certainly the situation. There were a team of twenty aurors, including Tonks, with him and they were dispatched to make arrests while the Hard Charger came to check on him.

Harry told him what happened and had to reiterate it when Sirius and Theseus showed up. Apparently there had been a breach at Azkaban and the dementors defected. A hundred and eighty Death Eaters were known to have been attacking and the Director, sworn in under emergency circumstances, the Head Auror, and Lord Commander had split to take care of the known parties with three teams of aurors, but Crouch’s party of twenty-five, including the supposedly dead prisoner, had gone undiscovered. As reports came in of all the participants unmasking, it was confirmed that they had everyone who’d escaped prison, plus one in Crouch, but that was the last Harry heard before he was sent back to their tent to pack.

Papa Lobo looked like he’d been about to throw up when the teenager finally came through the flaps and almost suffocated him as a result. Apparently when the Hard Charger and Co. ran off he’d been left behind to guard the other kids and only knew what happened because Luna told him. Amarok and Tanda were all over the Gryffindor even when he was finally released from the vampire’s arms and told to go back with the others.

That’s what he was doing with Hermione when he realized.

“...ink your grandfather is going to flip?”

“I don’t know,” Harry admitted, a little worried about the potentiality himself.

Where he wasn’t really in the mood to talk, Hermione couldn’t seem to stop, and he didn’t really mind, “You and Krum must have gotten on well. You were gone for hours. The season’s all set up though?”

“Yep.”

“If you used magic, you might be facing an underage magic charge,” She rambled on, “Did your grandfather mention…”

“Self defense,” He dismissed her.

“Right, obviously,” Mione nodded, “I should have thought of that. What time is it?”

Throwing his bag of his shoulder he reached into his jeans pocket to grab the watch that he always kept clipped to his belt loop, only then realizing that it wasn’t there, “Fuck me with a cactus!”

“What?!” His best friend demanded, “What?”

“I forgot something. I’ll be back,” He moved through the tent quickly around all the other teenagers and adults packing to get them out of there within the hour. Whatever hour it was.

Getting to the exit there was a goat shaped obstacle blocking the way, “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Viktor’s,” He waved Gabby out of the way, “I forgot something.”

“No,” The inn owner insisted, “Whatever it was, it’s not that important. Forget it.”

“Wanna bet?” Harry hissed and the older Gryffindor looked damn surprised at being on the receiving end of his ire.

They were saved from a knock down drag out by the rope that was charmed like a doorbell being pulled outside and a sheepish Bulgarian seeker sticking his head in. All eyes were instantly on him and he held up Harry’s pocket watch like an offering, “I was hopink you hadn’t left yet.”

He was so relieved, Harry didn’t think past kissing the other teenager until he had already done it, then he moved to clip the watch back to its rightful place still blissfully unaware of the shocked faces surrounding him, “You are the absolute best. Thank you.”

Vik just grinned, “My pleasure. I’ll see you in a couple monts.”

“Definitely,” Harry let himself be pulled in for another kiss and the Durmstrang student was gone as quickly as he arrived. Turning back to mouths agape across the entire tent had him rolling his eyes, “Grow up. I thought we were in a hurry.”

“Little Prince,” Papa Lobo wolf whistled, “I think you skipped some levels, Mijo.”

“I did not… I hate all of you.”

“Viktor Krum was your first time!” Ron declared like an excited puppy, “I have the coolest best mate in history! How are you ever going to top that?!”

The shorter wizard rolled his eyes, “He was not my first time.”

“You never told me that!”

Grandpa Abby chuckled, “He’s making a different sort of playbook.”

“Hate, hate, hate,” Harry pointed to both his grandfather and adopted father, emphasizing the last one.

As a result of their badgering he did end up revealing when his first time had been and with who, but he did not give them details about either Oliver or Viktor. All Ron saw was a famous Quidditch star and that simply wasn’t who the Durmstrang student was to him at all. When Mione inquired if he’d had a nice time it was genuine and he did tell her that much in the affirmative.

They finally got moving out of the campground after the shock wore off and he was relieved. Everyone took their return portkeys back home and Dudley flooed home, along with Hermione, before their worried parents could come out of their skin. Grandpa Albus and Grandpa Gel were worried, but they got moving to the Headmaster’s suite within moments of his arrival, so he endured the onslaught. 

Everyone was exhausted and hadn’t slept in more than a day, so all Harry wanted was a joint before he crashed. The good news as he smoked was that the Quidditch Pitch had been approved and their new trischool league was ready to begin on schedule. And Grandpa Gel had been stress baking all night, so no one was going to bed hungry.

It wound up being a week before any of them saw hide or hair of the newly appointed Director of Security for Britain’s Ministry of Magic and Harry wasn’t even awake when he got there. Nor should he have been at three in the morning. They’d gotten plenty of updates from the Daily Prophet in the last seven days though.

Percy had outfitted a dilapidated prison unit within the Ministry to hold the two hundred and five escaped prisoners who attacked the World Cup in record time and then he’d spent three days purging Azkaban of the dementor population. They’d defected anyway and couldn’t change their minds after selecting the losing side. Once Azkaban had been reclaimed and reformed as an up to code prison, he’d turned his efforts to the antiquated Auror Department, which had been floundering in the wrong hands since Sirius was arrested. The Head Auror had been trying to do the work himself with Theseus, Kingsley, and Nymphadora, but things had certainly moved a lot faster when the Hard Charger broke onto the scene.

With his new position, Percy had been able to authorize Theseus’ Special Operations team to aid them as well, where the previous administration had been determined to keep the aurors and specialists from working together. He’d also removed Theseus as Lord Commander and promoted him to Associate Director, while Tina had come back in as Assistant Director; the witch was fine with it as they wanted no one to think that the Americans were simply coming in and taking over. They’d put Kingsley Shacklebolt in as Lord Commander of Special Operations and Sirius was remaining as Head Auror, but he’d created a new role of Deputy Head Auror and put Tonks into the role.

His husband looked utterly exhausted. Still in the same black dress slacks, indigo dress shirt, and his leather jacket that he’d been in when they left for the sporting event, Gellert had always claimed that his husband was far to attractive with a beard and refused to let him grow on since their marriage began, but he had the beginnings of one at the moment and it wasn’t even an act of defiance. It was the dark bags under his eyes that were so hard for vampires to achieve which had him worried as Percy slipped out of his jacket and sent it flying over to the coat rack.

“You alright?”

“Fine.”

“If you’re going to lie to me, pretty kitty, do put in some effort.”

“Sorry…” He had to admit that falling into his husband’s arms was a relief after the last week, but once he was there the nagging thought in the back of his mind from the moment the attack started came back to the surface, “I am, Gel. I’m so sorry. I wasn’t supposed to be back unt…”

“Stop,” The siren sighed and pulled away just enough to kiss the big lug, “It’s alright. Really, we’re fine, Perce.”

“You’re not mad?”

“I spent years worrying about you not coming home,” He started unbuttoning the Potter lord’s shirt and confessed, “But I realized something when the attack happened last week.”

“What?”

“Harry’s going to follow you into the auror life no matter what I do,” Gellert shrugged, “So, I might as well have you there keeping an eye on him.”

Percy grinned, “When do you plan to concede your defeat?”

“Thirteen years after the day I die. I’ve made my peace with the eventuality, not lost my mind.”

Gellert went to get the shower going, because when Percy collapsed he had every intention of having washed the last week off of him, but he ducked into a certain teenager’s room to have a word with him first. It was late and the boy was adorable in his sleep haze after the vampire brushed him awake gently, but they needed to clear the air before both crashed again, "Hey, son."

"Grandpa? When did you…"

"Just now. Here, you can smoke a joint to go back to sleep, but we need to talk first."

Harry pulled himself, and Coatl, up by the headboard, "What's wrong?"

Percy lit the joint and put it in motion to pass between them, "I went to clear your underage magic file, before I left work. Only one problem; there were absolutely no records of your fighting Crouch. Can you explain that?"

Harry's eyes blew wide and his hand flew to his forehead, "Oh, fuck! I completely forgot about that!"

A dark brow just raised in his direction.

"Do you remember the day I got my wand and you asked me what Nanny and I were whispering about?"

Percy sat up and took another hit. That was not where he'd expected this conversation to go. He'd heard from Sirius, who was told by Tonks, who got it from Remus, after the werewolf heard from Aberforth about Harry and Krum; he'd honestly just expected him to confess that he'd used the older seeker's wand and hadn't told him, "I do."

"We weren't talking about you and Papa Lobo. She actually told me that my wand didn't have tracking charms… And that it was our little secret."

"Huh… And to think I thought I'd have to come in here and remind you about our little talk concerning you telling me everything…" Percy studied him for a minute and then exhaled, "But, since that happened after you and Nanny's little secret, I suppose we can let it go this one time."

Harry grinned, "Sorry, Grandpa."

"It's alright," He ruffled Harry's hair, "Go back to bed."

The Gryffindor winced and grabbed his forehead, "Can't. Gave myself a migraine putting it all together."

"Hmm…" He tapped him as he rose to head out, "Come get something from Grandpa Gel."

By the time he got out of the shower Harry was back in bed, but despite using silencing charms Albus and Mat had woken up. One thing he had not missed from auror work was having to shield from his mating bonds whenever on duty and when he stumbled out of the shower to all three of them awake… It was like catching a second wind.

Gellert was still in the throws of baby mania anyway, so it worked out.

When they all stumbled from bed after noon the next day, however, there were only six days left of summer. Harry’s homework had been done since the conclave and given that he’d had to come to work early due to the circumstances Percy had a long weekend off, so he suggested they go out to his parents’ place in Louisiana. The teenager hadn’t ever been and Mateo assured that he was fine to go back after a year.

Mamie was so excited when they showed up that it turned into a party the first night for the vampires in the family. And Harry enjoyed getting to explore the surrounding woods, then getting to meet Nana’s horned serpent familiar. Percy watched the whole family still able to get together despite him going back to work and it sunk in all over again how much he’d sacrificed to fight with his père.

They all had a great weekend though and by the end of it he was much more confident in his ability to handle both work and his family. As long as he managed that stubborn streak that he got from a certain blonde menace, who would otherwise remain nameless.

Percy was back to work the next Monday and September 1st rolled around that Thursday, so it was a busy week for Albus. Harry lamented having to ride the train again, especially when Ron hadn’t been able to keep his mouth shut and all anyone wanted to talk about was Viktor and Oliver, but he’d be fine. There was always a new point of gossip taking off around Hogwarts and that was evident by the time the feast was settling in.

He’d made the announcements about the Triwizard Tournament and everyone knew Harry was gunning to enter as the meal went on. Less worried about his lovers trysts, they were more concerned already with if he’d pull it off. Even his staff was talking about it and he caught Minerva running the betting pool.

For both Harry entering the tournament and his love life.

Since the first day of classes was on a Friday, everyone had released their assignments for the next week early, though most students would ignore them. And Harry’s only class was double Potions, before he holed up in Sev’s lab to complete his work for the next week in a five hour study period surrounding lunch. So, for the circus this competition was about to make of his school, the year started off perfectly enough.

The next week Harry settled in nicely. He had History, Herbology, and Care of Magical Creatures on Monday and Wednesday mornings, then an hour of Flying and three hours of Quidditch in the afternoons. At the start of the week he had tea with Hagrid and then Astronomy at night, while two days later he’d upped Music Club to three hours because it was the only thing that relieved his third eye at the moment. Then on Tuesdays and Thursdays the teenager had Defense, Charms, and Transfiguration in the mornings, then Divination after lunch before three hours of free time, and three hours of Dueling Club after dinner.

It wasn’t a bad schedule for a fourth year.

Albus did not appreciate Hagrid’s assertion at their first staff meeting that he’d had Harry drop the internship because he hadn’t wanted the Fourth Year to be overwhelmed with the Tournament. Despite the fact that he wouldn’t have finals once he got in. He’d already be training the new team on top of it, after all.

Everyone was against him.

"You have been like a bear in a trap for two weeks now," Minerva noted as she took the seat on the opposite side of his desk, "Are you really so afraid to lose him that you'll end up pushing him away?"

"He is fourteen."

"And well aware you've been ignoring him since school started," His deputy sat back and waved him off in his peripheral vision even as he tried to keep his attention on his letter, "I suppose it's a return to form, truly. You managed for two years. What record shall we go for this time?"

"I will not bare my son for the slaughter!" Albus yelled, slamming his quill down for a lack of anything else to lash out at, "As the rest of you seem so ready to!"

"He is more capable of this then any seventeen year old in the castle."

"So was my daughter. Do you remember how that ended?!"

"With her son having a chance when she didn't," The animagus noted.

He sat back and glared at her when no response was forthcoming. Harry could not enter the tournament, it was a recipe for disaster, and their school year was beginning with enough calamity. All he wanted was to shield the teenager, but Harry was determined to greet death like an old friend, "I can't support this."

"Then just support him," The witch suggested as she rose to take her leave, "An honest conversation wouldn't kill the two of you. Graves and Ori were always prosperous when the wands and cloaks came together; why not the two of you?"

It was the third Friday of the term and he sent Severus a patronus to ask Harry to come to his office. Then the next half hour felt like waiting for the guillotine. Especially when he realized Harry was in no hurry to heed any summons from him; why would he?

When the wall did finally slide open below and Harry wandered up with that same guarded look in his eyes that he'd had right before ignoring Albus the year prior and going to bed, it still felt like the boy flicked his beating heart. He moved over to perch on his desk and waved Harry closer. Though it took a moment for him to cooperate, when he did the fire fae confessed, "Everyone keeps telling me to make my peace. It's not that simple."

"I can do this."

"Why do you need to?" Albus demanded, "Honey, it's just a school competition."

"It's the only chance I'm going to get, Grandpa," Harry insisted, gesturing grandly, "If it was coming around again, sure I'd wait. But this is it for the next four year!"

"It is nothing, but…"

"When you and Grandpa Gel got married?"

The Headmaster startled and stared at him.

Harry rolled his eyes, "Everyone knows you let him take the cup as a sign of affection, then after the celebration you showed up with this."

His sleeves were rolled up and his grandson was right. His marriage totem was right there on display and other than Harry joining up all anyone was talking about was how he'd taken a fifteen year old Gellert to the Yule Ball during that round of this blasted thing. It struck him only then that they were Harry's largest motivation for doing this and Albus rolled his eyes, "Planning to elope? Let me remind you that you are only fourteen."

"Tell me about it," Harry muttered so darkly it felt like being stabbed.

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing."

"Harry…" He warned.

"Grandpa Gel said he started getting visions of you and the fanger at my age, even before the dream."

On a hunch Albus had Gellert check on Harry's third eye across their mating bond, but he wasn't expecting the older seer to confess that it felt like that part of his mind had been put through a meat grinder. Then it all happened so quickly, Harry got a nose bleed and the siren hurried through the shortcut to their home using the portrait of Merlin demanding, "Sweetheart, what the hell have you been doing?!"

Albus healed him while Gellert fussed, but it was the scarlet wizard who demanded seriously, "Harry, what are you trying to do?"

"I just want to know who it is," He confessed quietly, "What if they're right here?"

"And what if they're not?" He insisted.

Gellert pulled Harry in for a hug, "Darling, you can only see what you're meant to."

Taking a deep breath, the Chief Warlock proposed, "Alright, I'll make my peace with you trying to enter, whatever the results may be, but you end this ridiculous mate hunt nonsense."

Harry looked over at him once he was cleaned up, "Really?"

"Deal?"

"Deal!"

The teenager bounced out of the office with a grin after hugging them and Albus glared at his mate, "I blame you for this."

"You had just as much to do with that scandal as I did."

"True."

Their first chance to go to Hogsmeade wasn't until the weekend before the first task, so after that talk Harry was pretty content to laze around classes and let his mind's eye heal up. Pops was relieved that someone finally put an end to his witch hunt concerning mating and he'd read about how to help an overused third eye recoup, so Harry smoked more and played more music. There wasn't a lot of time during the day, but he started sneaking out at night and utilizing the Divination classroom; it was basically abandoned since Firenze liked having all of their classes outside.

He wasn't expecting the space to be where he earned his bi-card, but it worked out just as well. Slytherins had been looking to corner him all year and there were certainly worse ways to go then a confrontation with their princess. And they were in Music Club together, so she went along with his current activity right well.

"...Then did she cover me out of their sight in her green mantle, smelling of sage," Harry sang, strumming at his guitar in one of the hammocks by a window, "Just as we came to the safe Abby doors did the Faerie Queen cry out in rage…"

A new voice broke in, dark and hypnotic as it always was, "I'd pluck his eyes away, that my fair land beheld. I want her life as pay, who took my Tam Lin of the Elves!"

Harry didn't even finish the song, sitting up when the witch came into his space. She was only in a green nighty and silver housecoat in silk, the latter emblazoned with a large emerald 'D' on one side, "Miss Greengrass."

"Mr. Potter."

"What are you doing here?"

"I was skeptical," She informed him, arms crossing over her chest and flipping her wavy blonde hair over her shoulder, "Last year on the train."

"Of?"

"Why would he aid the marked? After the Stag Charger's end."

Harry set his guitar down against the case and shrugged from his seat amongst the netting, "Having a tattoo is not a crime, Daphne."

"Obviously."

He just smirked when she looked over his brands. Clothing in general irritated his skin like sandpaper because of his growing siren magic, so he was down to his sleep pants, because he really wasn't expecting company tonight, "Why are you here?"

"You were announced as the heir to the dark faction?"

"I was announced as the heir to Vampire Society," Harry corrected, rising to his feet.

"Don't mince words with me, Potter. They were the same thing for hundreds of years, until…"

She trailed off and Harry gave it voice for her, "Until Riddle murdered my dad as a bid for the darkly inclined."

"Last year you proclaimed that you wouldn't follow in the dark tradition."

"I proclaimed I wouldn't become a terrorist," Harry towered over her by several inches, but he really wasn't trying to, "If the sheep need someone to follow, I can't help you. If anyone wants to make the world we live in a better place, then hike up your stockings and let's get up work."

She studied him for the longest time, "You are a man of honor in a corrupt world, but life is not so simple."

"We all have to make the choice between what is easy and what is right."

The witch scoffed and shook her head at him.

So, Harry pushed back, "Then what do you swear to, Daph?"

"She is wedded to convictions, in default of grosser ties. Her contentions are her children; Heaven help him who denies," She recited after a moment of contemplation, "He will meet no suave discussion, but the instant, white-hot, wild, wakened female of the species, warring as for spouse and child."

That made him smile and he confessed, "It's a good line. I always preferred, 'So it comes that man, the coward, when he gathers to confer with his fellow-braves in council, dare not leave a place for her,'" Harry only continued when she startled at him knowing the reference to Kipling, "Where at war with life and conscience, he uplifts his erring hands to some God of abstract justice, which no woman understands."

"How do you…"

He abandoned their standoff nose to nose, so that he could relight and take a hit off of his joint in the window, "According to my Aunt Cissy, it was my mother's favorite poem."

"The hidden Dumbledore heiress," She allowed, wandering closer.

When Harry saw her eye the joint curiously he offered it to the Slytherin and after a moment she accepted. Almost hacked up a lung, but she got it after a few passes. They talked for a while, about his ambition to join the tournament, and her lack of commitment to the ideals of her parents; she had a baby sister to protect and had already seen how their choices to take the mark could have destroyed the family.

He really wasn't expecting her to kiss him. It happened though, once they were both stoned, and he'd picked up his guitar to play for them a bit more. And he didn't object when she climbed over to straddle his lap, just discarded the instrument to better participate.

Being with a witch was certainly a different experience. One thing which was similar in that she took control like Oliver and Viktor. And he didn't mind.

Later it would occur to him that he wouldn't mind being the chaser for once, but for the time being he just let her ride him to her heart's content, before making sure her stoned self got back to the Slytherin Common Room unaccosted. She might be demanding, but she was also a giggly little stoner. Being her first time, he didn't want her trying to find the blank stretch of wall by herself.

Once she'd kissed him goodnight and disappeared, Harry turned to try and catch a few hours of sleep, only there was a sweater clad werewolf blocking the path, "Ahh, fuck."

"What's this? Third time's the charm?" Remus asked, in his typical khaki slacks and arms crossed over his chest as he leaned on the wall ten feet away, "And the Slytherin princess? Not bad."

"Can't you just give me the detention and be done with it?"

"Oh, I think we can skip all that," Moony allowed, waving for Harry to follow him back to Gryffindor Tower, "After all, you just won me the betting pool."

The fourth year rolled his eyes, but followed. 

He did not want to know. 

It was just his luck that the next day was raining cats and dogs, so they were forced to have Divination inside. And Firenze changed up the lesson plan to discuss sexual energy, since the room was absolutely wrought with it. The centaur didn't call him out by name or anything, didn't even seem to think it important, but Harry almost died.

Gellert shook his head as the vision passed of Remus catching the teenagers leaving the Divination classroom and reclined against Mat where the three of them were lounging in bed, "Harry's going to have his third tryst tonight."

Albus glanced up from his report placing Ministry officials in rooms for the duration of task weekends when they would be staying, "Who won the pool?"

"Remus."

"Damn it," Their wolf muttered, "I figured he'd make it to the Yule Ball."

"Not Harry," Albus huffed, "Was that the big announcement?"

"Don't be ridiculous. We're waiting for Percy."

It took another half an hour, but the Director did finally return to them near midnight, and Gellert was able to tell all three that Andromeda had confirmed him as pregnant. They celebrated all night and summoned Harry the next morning to tell him, before all four started spreading the word amongst the family. Gender couldn't be determined until Yule, but they had a due date of mid to late May.

Everyone was excited and October really started ticking down in anticipation of the other schools' arrival. When the thirtieth finally came around Hogwarts had music written for their school song and everyone participated along with Music Club's lead. Beauxbatons glided in amidst a tasteful ballet styled orchestration in a flurry of blue and gold. And Durmstrang charged into powerful drums and acrobatic tricks in a sea of scarlet and fur.

Everyone cheered and the Welcoming Feast began. Albus presented the Goblet of Fire and explained the rules of the daring competition, before all three schools were allowed to mingle. The Quidditch players found one another quickly, already familiar, and introduced their friends who didn't play, so a meld set in almost immediately.

Reporters were running around, but Albus didn't like it when he saw a woman named Rita Skeeter snapping photos of Viktor and Harry when they embraced. She already gave him a knot in the stomach. So, there was no doubt he'd be keeping an eye on her.

Madam Maxime was quite fond of Hagrid and Minerva took right well to the Durmstrang Transfiguration professor, so it wound up being a right pleasant night. Karkaroff was as unpleasant as ever, but Severus was on the Durmstrang Headmaster’s other side and continued to cut him to the quick over and over every time the man tried to be cute, so at least it wasn’t boring. Being a duelist meant getting the best of someone at its core and he had no doubts that Severus enjoyed showing the man up every little bit.

Eventually curfew called an end to the celebration and nearly two thousand students retreated from the Great Hall. A large number of sixth and seventh years had already entered their name in the Goblet, but they weren't really what had him loitering after all three staffs cleared out as well. The blue flames of the Goblet weren’t disrupted well into the night, but he wasn't willing to risk it.

Just a bit after midnight Percy showed up to make a bid of claiming him for bed, but Albus refused. If Harry was going to do this, then he was going to make it as difficult for the teenager as possible. He’d have to accomplish it right under his fae nose.

So, he was still there reading when his attention was claimed by the fire of the impartial judge burning red. His attention drew to the object, shooting up to abandon his place on the stairs, as a piece of parchment disappeared inside the wooden marker of the tournament. It didn’t even surprise him when Harry appeared right in front of him when he stepped off the last step.

“You’re grounded.”

“Whatever you say, Gingy.”

Albus felt the tension of the last few months melt away, because at last it was behind them, but even as he threw an arm around Harry to leave the Great Hall the Headmaster needed to know, “Why can’t you just let me protect you? Is that too much to ask?”

“Hmm... You can’t always be there and even if you were,” Harry shrugged and gestured back to the Goblet, “You’re not all powerful.”

“It’s all I ever wanted to do and I keep failing.”

“It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live,” He startled and looked down at the grinning fourth year, “I listen when you talk, even when I go my own way.”

Albus checked his watch and it was just after two, “Where have you been?”

“Would you like an honest answer, or should I say Gryffindor Tower?”

“Let’s try for honest.”

“We had a small party in the Room of Requirement; George did my back brand.”

Percy always wanted to see Harry’s tattoos, so he made the Gryffindor return home with him to show it off. It was very impressive. A massive deathly hallows symbol created from interlocking animals, it had representations for everyone in the family, all his friends, and even just some of the creatures that he’d encountered over the years. It also had 'Presence of Thought' and 'Peace of Mind' written down either side of the symbol's peak, because Percy always insisted that those were the only rules of magic. After he’d shown it off though, they shipped him back to the dorm rooms to return to their regularly scheduled school year.

Albus couldn’t help but voice, as the boy put his jacket back on, “Just because you got it in, doesn’t mean you’ll be selected.”

“You keep telling yourself that, Gingy.”

He was out of the portrait in a blink, Ariana closing herself with a flourish for effect, and Albus finally let himself grin at the return of the title. He had no idea where Harry had gotten it from as a baby, because he’d never seen him with red hair, nor would he have known what it meant. But, it was still cute and had basically been his variation of ‘Grandpa’ to keep the fire fae separate from all the other grandparents he’d had running around.

“Your son!”

Gellert just shrugged, a hand gliding over his stomach, “This one will have quite a bit to live up to.”

The next morning Harry and Viktor were splashed across the front page, Skeeter daring to speculate if they would follow in his and Gellert’s footsteps, despite the bad blood between their families. His grandson was instantly pissed and Albus didn’t know what happened exactly, only that by lunch Hermione was bringing him a jar that housed one illegal animagus to be turned into the Auror Department. He’d never seen so many reporters instantly straighten their arses up in tandem as when the witch glared at them, before returning to her place next to Harry at the Gryffindor table.

It was Harry’s busiest day and he had engagements straight through from breakfast until curfew, but the champions were revealed at dinner and the tension was palpable. Everyone wanted to see Harry pull it off and compete. Even Durmstrang and Beauxbatons’ students seemed to have jumped on the bandwagon.

Viktor was revealed as the champion for his school, then Ms. Fleur Delacour, who Albus did believe was Queenie and Jacob’s granddaughter. He’d never felt so close to a panic attack in his life when the Hogwarts champion was revealed. Then never been so relieved to announce that Cedric would be their representative.

Everyone clapped politely, but there was a certain air of disappointment hanging about the hall.

Then, as he was turning to congratulate the three students, he heard the Goblet of Fire erupt once more and winced. Turning back to the student body, they were all on the edge of their seats, so he just shrugged, “Let’s get this over with, shall we?”

Pulling the fourth name out of the flames, he rolled his eyes and shouted, “Harry James Potter!”

The castle shook with the roar of excitement. Albus even caught the three champions behind him cheering. Fred and George had a series of indoor fireworks prepared and they lit up the hall like the previous year’s Start of Term feast. And Harry stood on the Gryffindor table bench to bow to each table, before bouncing up to join the other three, who were hugging him and clearly didn’t mind him showboating.

When dinner ended, so did the celebration, and Harry had to get to double decked Astronomy. Albus endured the meeting with the other school heads and reminded the enraged Karkaroff that it was the Durmstrang Headmaster who selected the rules for the Goblet. They’d just have to make due with four champions. Maxime agreed with him and they adjourned for the night.

He had a seance to get to anyway.

A gathering which had apparently already started when he got there, because James Potter was yelling.

“...ou could not tell me that! I had no idea! And now I look like the arsehole, because I didn’t want him taking after the old man!”

“Boy, I don’t know who you think you’re talking to,” Percy growled, “But I will exorcize your ass and feel nothing.”

“You were a pilot?!”

“It was before you were even born,” His mate insisted, where he was standing just outside the conjuring circle housing one James and Lily Potter, as well as Orion and Reggie, with hands shoved into his slacks pockets, “Hell, it was before we even separated.”

“All those years that I spent hating the old man for being gone all the time,” James was pacing around the circle, arms moving wildly, “And I blamed it on him being a pilot. But, no! He was just that much of a bastard!”

“Jimmy…” Percy scolded, but it was gentle even as he said it, “Kid, your father…”

“Was who he was, I know!” He hissed, “That is not the point! I never would have told Harry what I did, if I’d known he was gunning to take after you!”

“Well, then,” Gellert broke in, “Tell him that. And stop yelling. You’ll scare the poor thing to death.”

Even in the afterlife, James Potter sighed with his whole body, “Sorry, Mum.”

“Nice we can get this out of the way before Harry arrives,” Albus noted, throwing off his suit jacket and smiled at his daughter when she spun to beam in his direction, “Hi, princess.”

“Hi! I cannot believe you let him do it!”

“Let him! Let him! I tried to stop him!”

“What are we going to do?”

“Let him compete, quite frankly.”

Harry arrived and officially got to meet the deceased members of the family. 

James was so proud of him for entering the tournament and they had a long heart to heart about the pilot thing. Fleamont had been doing some daring do in the afterlife and hadn’t even shown up for the seance, so the Stag Charger didn’t have to work hard to illustrate why he hadn’t wanted his only son to take after the Rescue Pilot. He gave the fourth year his blessing on the career path and they talked about the three tasks hypothetically for some time.

Lily was more interested in her son developing his wandless magic. He’d gotten to a place where he could cast a non-corporeal patronus without his wand, but didn’t quite have his full range yet, and she gave him a few tips from the otherside for when he started working on the darker side of his magical range. They also talked about the possibility of him becoming a prefect in a year, but Harry just gave her a look and she accepted rather easily that it wasn’t his path.

Reggie and Orion enjoyed getting to meet his familiars and talking about the new Quidditch team. Both scolded him for choosing to go to the lion’s den, but it was all playful enough. Especially when he had a rainboa wrapped around him.

Draco and the Blacks poured in alongside Harry and Narcissa got to show off Little Vin to her namesake when the witch’s spirit showed up late. Apparently she’d been trying to convince Flea to come on and finally gave up, because she didn’t want to miss the opportunity herself. Percy was disappointed in his son, but also loved getting to see Gellert and Vinda together again.

When the night finally wrapped up, it was hard to believe how much better Albus was feeling, just for all of it being out of the way. Harry was in the competition, he’d talked to his parents, and the world hadn’t ended when it all came down to it. The kids had classes the next day, they had one free weekend to let all three schools acclimatize to sharing space, then the first Quidditch match weekend of the new league, and the first Hogsmeade weekend a week later.

The first round was Hogwarts versus Beauxbatons and the Dumbledore lord was never more proud than he was watching his grandson’s team absolutely crush them. Uniforms had turned out splendidly after Harry deployed his cousins, the Patil twins, to the task. They were black shirts and pants with a large Hogwarts shield on the back and another on the chest pocket; players' names were written in gold on the back above the shields and on the shoulders each player had the animal associated with their personal house in each’s colors. The final score wound up being 350-50 and the next game was the second weekend in December. From what Albus understood, Maxime was hoping her team could regain some dignity by winning against Durmstrang.

As the first Hogsmeade weekend came upon them all eyes were on Harry, less for the competition and more concerning who he was going to take to the Yule Ball. All the more he was spending more time at Hagrid’s and, though his friend didn’t tell him about the first task, the half-giant encouraged him to follow him out into the Forbidden Forest and Harry discovered the dragons. The Hog’s Head had been remodeled in the last year and become quite popular with his band of friends, so it wasn’t difficult to track down Cedric, Viktor, and Fleur to warn them among the crowded tavern.

Classes were cancelled for the Thursday housing the first task, as well as the following day to provide the champions a chance to recover, but everything was ready to go. Percy had the same giant reflector screen that he’d designed for the Quidditch World Cup in the clearing and set up to show the competitors face down their dragons. And Albus was fairly certain that the school was going to burn down no matter who Harry asked to go to the ball with him.

“...warts, Beauxbatons, Durmstrang,” He sighed as he finished putting on his jacket, “I don’t even think it matters. Ever since the word spread of his prowess with Daphne and Viktor confirmed they’d seen one another, it’s a damn melee!”

“If it doesn’t matter,” Percy parrotted, “Then why are you so worried about it?”

“Because I am responsible for this circus,” Albus reminded him, “And it’s going to be a disaster.”

“What is?” Harry demanded, coming through the portrait. He was instantly pulled in by his vampire grandfather to make sure that he had all the necessary protections on his clothing, like it wasn’t already impenetrable armor. Plus, the Hard Charger wasn’t aware that he’d been building up a bond with the dragons since finding out where they were by using his fire spirit inheritance from Grandpa Gel.

“Nothing.”

“Alrighty, then,” Harry waved them on, “Let’s go get me a dragon!”

“What the hell does that mean?” Albus demanded, following him out of the portrait, “Harry! What does that mean?!... Don’t ignore me!”

“This should be fun,” Mat noted, one arm slung over Gellert as he led the siren out too.

Percy grumbled, because he had to work the event and didn’t get to go with the rest of them, but it turned out that Harry was not joking. 

Everything went off without a hitch for the first three champions. Cedric went up against his Swedish Short-Snout using a rock transfigured into a dog, but didn’t account for the fact that the creature would defend its nest over chasing a pooch, and got a burnt face despite being successful in the task. Second up was Fleur and she did well with her sleeping charm on her Common Welsh Green, until she got her skirts set aflame by the creature snorting in its sleep, but she was successful too. And Viktor got docked points for destroying so many real eggs of the Chinese Fireball when he bound his dragon, but he got the golden one out without taking on any injuries himself.

Harry had to show out, of course, because that was the name of his youngest’s game. He selected the Hungarian Horntail and didn’t look like he could have been any more excited. Where the beast had been reigning dragonfire all around the stands prior to the fourth year’s emergence, as soon as he came into sight she was puppyish and seemed to want to play. To everyone’s amazement, the boy humored her and pet her like a dog, then he started hissing to the creature in parseltongue.

Percy knew what he was saying as he described the false egg and the dragon was outraged. Harry calmed her down by promising to take it away and, sure enough, the dragon gave him one of her eggs as payment. Picking it up on her sticky tongue to separate from the rest, she blew fire on it until the shell blew apart and a baby Hungarian Horntail was left behind. It flew over to Harry and the vampire wasn’t even surprised when the little reptile’s eyes blew green in the form of a fourth familiar for his grandson.

The real surprise was the Hungarian Horntail mother shrinking to the rarely seen miniature form of the creature, after hatching her other eggs and Harry departing with his new dragon, to fly over to Gellert. Her eyes shifted, just for a moment, to blue and brown before returning and his husband didn't seem surprised by it. The Director shared a look with Albus and would have to confirm later that the man's magic hadn't shifted either.

Clean up mostly consisted of watching Charlie Weasley try and chase down the other hatched babies to go back to Romania. It was certainly more entertaining than dueling for his life though. And it brought on a certain nostalgia alongside Theseus, given that they'd often been in a similar position with Newt during the first World War.

He'd never gotten off work so fast to go home for a different sort of investigation in his life though. Didn't end up having to search very far, as his husband was in Harry's bedroom with the teenager and their new dragons when he got there, attempting to explain what had happened.

"...ut how do you have a familiar and not stay with them?"

"You didn't have Coatl, I'll remind."

"Grandpa!"

"Well…. My father was a homophobic jackal with his own Horntail. He sent me back to Durmstrang that last year as punishment for taking up with Grandpa Albus and then tried to have Fafner execute me when I was expelled."

"What?!"

"Yes, it was Adalinda who flew in and fought him to save me."

"But… Then why didn't she leave with you?"

"She wanted to stay and have her children!" Gellert insisted, "We knew we'd find one another again."

"Woah."

"Boy, does that explain a lot," Percy put in, leaning in the door frame.

Harry panicked and checked his watch, before taking a relieved breath and announcing that he had to go meet with Cedric anyway. They both exclaimed their belief that he'd been going to stay at home that weekend and he just assured that he'd be right back. Apparently if they met up tonight, all the teenager knew was that they would be able to figure out the clue inside the golden egg.

And figure it out they did, but it was a long process.

Harry confessed to the limits of his vision and Cedric was excited by the chance to figure it out quickly. So they went into the prefect's bathroom to explore as the vision indicated. It took hours of trying, however.

And at one point the seer was ready to throw in the towel. Cedric insisted they'd figure it out, though, and squeezed his shoulders, "We can do this."

Harry cut him with a look over his shoulder, "How are you always so positive?"

"Hufflepuff pride," He admitted, "It has its perks and curses."

"You're the heir to the seat, right?"

"Correct," He agreed and they were still looking at one another over Harry's shoulder. Then he leaned in to kiss the younger boy, who jumped in surprise, "I'm sorry. I am so sorry. I should not have done that!"

He'd already jumped a foot away and Harry grabbed a golden sleeve to stop him, "It's fine. Really. I was just surprised."

"I am such a jerk! I said I wasn't going to do anything until the tournament ended and there I went!"

Head tilted curiously, Harry took a step closer, "You've been planning that?"

"Did I say that?" Cedric demanded nervously, hand strumming through his blonde waves with a sigh, "I am royally screwing this up."

"It's a cute screw up, if it's any consolation."

He laughed, "I wanted to ask you out before the tournament, but everyone knew you were going to enter, and I didn't want us to end up in a bad spot… Which I just put us into anyway…"

"You know, I don't think anyone could call kissing you a bad spot," Harry decided with a grin, before kissing him again.

Despite taking control in that moment, Cedric was still taller than him and took back over in a second, so it wasn't quite the chance to play chaser that he wanted. They wound up taking a bath together and fooling around for several hours. The Hufflepuff was certainly the gentlest lover he'd had thus far. He tasted like honey and teracle tarts.

The larger Hufflepuff seeker was trying to start up a second round when they accidentally knocked the golden egg into the water and jumped apart to see what would happen. When images started to form below they both dove down and listened to the song twice, before surfacing to gasp for air, "What in Merlin's bloody ball sack?!"

"I don't know," Harry confessed, going over to the faucet to get the soap out of his eyes. When he pulled back and took a look around, he spotted a sleeping mermaid in one of the stained glass windows and thought back to the movie he'd seen with Dudley a few years before, "I can only think of one creature that sings underwater though."

When Cedric flowed to where the Gryffindor was pointing he shook his head, "There's no coast for hundreds of miles."

"What about fresh water merpeople? There's always the Lake."

He groaned, "That is a totally different beast. Literally. They're vicious."

"Remember your Hufflepuff pride," Harry teased.

Cedric stuck his tongue out at him and they wound up kissing for a while longer, before agreeing that they had to warn Viktor and Fleur. The pair were getting dressed when another prefect walked in and Harry engaged with the cloak so that he didn't get the sixth year in trouble. Not that he knew it at first and had to stumble through an explanation of how he was just tired from the first task and figuring out the clue, which accounted for Harry's vision, before the Boy Who Lived slipped out behind the new arrivals.

He made it back home, still convinced that the universe was against him having any cuddle time, and was actually pretty pissy for it. Slamming the portrait only did so much. First the transformation, then Death Eaters, and Daphne needing to sleep, and now stupid prefects.

"Didn't have a good time?"

Harry looked over at his fae grandfather, surprised when they were the only ones up, "What?"

The Headmaster gestured to his aura vaguely, "Everyone has a sort of post-coital glow when they're intimate."

"That is such an invasion of privacy."

"I'd rather not know myself, but it is what it is," Albus dismissed, "So, what happened?"

"Cedric and I hooked up."

"That's two out of three. Ms. Delacour up next?"

"It's not… We just had a connection and it happened, okay?"

"It was just a joke, Harry," He assured, throwing his paper onto the table, "What in the world happened?"

"I… Cedric was great. I just… That's the fourth time out of four that I don't even get to cuddle a bit," Harry scoffed at how ridiculous that sounded, "Nevermind, I'm being stupid."

"It is not stupid to care about those you have sex with," Albus insisted, "Or to want to enjoy the experience as much as possible. It'll happen, but I am sorry the interruptions have been so persistent."

"Yeah," Harry accepted and wandered over to the coffee table where the special edition on the first task was laying. While they covered the event, speculation was already turning to the champions' dates for the Yule Ball, and away from his station in first place thus far, "Nosy pricks."

"Whoever you go with there will be a riot," Harry noticed immediately when his grandfather was genuinely trying to hide his anxiety over the issue, "And if you go stag, you're the poor martyr trying to keep the peace."

He just chuckled, "Don't worry, Gingy. I've already got my date and I've found a way to compete with even your scandalous standards."

Albus arched a scarlet brow at him, "Oh, really?"

"That's right. Trust me, okay?" Harry grinned at him, "I'm not going to let this pile of stone crumble. I'm too invested at this point."

"Hmm… Alright. Let's see what you come up with."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thinking two more chapters. One for the Yule Ball through the third task. And one for Time of the Blood and mating dream. I hope this adds to everyone's weekend!


	7. Chapter 7

Beauxbatons Academy of Magic was going to have to up their Quidditch game, especially if the new academic league was going to continue as an every year occurrence like Albus said the School Boards were pushing for, because Durmstrang flattened them. The final match of the school year wasn’t until early April, but it was probably the most heavily anticipated. Everyone wanted to see Harry and Viktor square off; the hungry masses unable to talk about anything else, unless it was the Gryffindor champion’s love life, of course.

And Viktor and Cedric were clearly carrying a torch. Both knew that he wouldn't date a co-champion and wasn't really looking to date until he found out who his mate was, so that complication could be dealt with. But, it was like he'd warned his grandson a hundred times since he found out about the trysts, two seekers in a relationship just didn't work.

Aberforth didn’t know what to do with his only daughter’s only son turning his rough and rowdy tavern into a teen hangout. Nor his precious bar becoming the regular watering hole for the aurors in the family. He hadn’t bothered to remodel since Orion died and his husband wasn’t there to hound him into doing it every couple years, but he’d finally broken and done it before the World Cup, upon realizing that he could no longer keep the well to do crowd out of his establishment as long as Percival Graves was showing up regularly.

So as the last Hogsmeade Weekend before the Yule Ball settled in around them, the brown leather upholstery of every seat was bathed in a warm glow from the fireplace, and the Hog’s Head was alight with merriment for once. Decorations lit the log cabin up with a large tree in each corner, greenery on the stage, bar, and fireplace, as well as a dusting of ice magic on the lot to bring a small chilling sensation to the crowded establishment. Being back to work as an auror had Percy aware of every minute that he was missing with Harry, so he’d started showing up to the bar on Friday evenings every other week when he got off around seven, just so he could hear the Gryffindor perform and have a drink.

Having heard entirely too much about dates for the upcoming celebration, it didn’t make guessing what Harry had up his sleeve for the event, despite the whole family putting their heads together trying to figure it out, any easier. As a result the inn owner was watching intently as Harry poured into the bar room with all of his friends, the Hard Charger, and Mateo, trying to see if he gave anyone more attention as the kids took to the stage. Even in the teenager’s obvious and enthusiastic excitement, he wasn’t favoring anyone.

The wolf waved to him with extra pep, but went to judge the kids performances. Though he picked on some of them, it was all in good fun. Over the last year and a half, he’d learned which kids were in on the joke, and which were sensitive. Harry enjoyed being told his voice was trash when everyone knew he put the Royal Slut to shame, but Draco would be flattened by any such implication about his own performances. Mat still enjoyed picking with the kids that he could though.

And Percy broke straight for Aberforth’s round booth in the corner, grinning like a fool.

“Alright,” He demanded immediately, “What’s the news?!”

“Gel’s having a little girl,” The vampire absolutely beamed and Abby knew how exciting his first girl would be to Percy, “Cissy?”

“Twins,” The innkeep smiled, “Both boys.”

A cheer broke out across the bar near the stage and it was clear that Harry and Draco had just announced much the same thing to their friends.

“Congratulations, Perce,” Abby offered, pointer finger wandering around the rim of his highball glass, “You going to go for it?”

“Is it alright with you?”

“Of course it is,” He grinned, “We need another Ariana in the family.”

The Hard Charger grinning and slung an arm around him, “What about Cissy?”

“Orion Romii and Astro Romulus,” He chuckled, “So they’re both named for their grandfather and godfather.”

“That’s cute,” Percy chuckled and took a sip of his drink that a waitress had just left without him having to order.

“Please tell me you’re not going to stick this kid with four last names,” Abby muttered, grabbing both of them a cigar.

“Nah,” Percy chuckled, “We were just talking about that actually. Think we’re going to go with just Potter, since even I’m pretty new to using it too, and then we can all match Harry after Time of the Blood.”

“And it only took a hundred and ninety-five years, before Père will finally get to marry your arse.”

“Don’t remind him.”

“Any clues about the Little Prince’s date?”

“Not a hair, not a fibre,” Percy waved him off, “Nothing.”

"We've only got a week!"

"Well, he hasn't said a word," The vampire grouched, "And he's blocked Gellert's sight."

"Cut off the Flaring Fiend, did he?" Abby chuckled, glancing up at his best friend until the Hard Charger met his gaze, "We could always just wait and see."

"We could do that."

"What are you thinking for a middle name?"

"Lorelei."

"Percy," He rolled his eyes, but knew immediately that was his friend's idea of a joke with Bathilda Bagshot.

"She'll learn to love it."

Classes were over and dress robe orders, family heirlooms, and reporters were running rampant across Hogwarts. And being Director had nothing on watching Albus trying to balance three schools, Ministry officials crawling all over campus, and being Chief Warlock as cases were being presented against those who attacked the World Cup, all at the same time. Only blessing of the whole thing was that Gellert was the most contented pregnant person on his gods' ground when going through the lokisfrig transformation that enabled male pregnancy and that led to him consistently putting off calming energy, just like he had when Flea was born.

Walking into the suite was like getting a week off from work just by being in his presence. 

And with classes over, Harry was back home to enjoy watching them chase their tails, coming and going at all hours to escape to the Hog's Head with his friends. He was honestly a little bored as the days ticked down to the Yule Ball, because homework was non-existent and he didn't have any finals, so he threw himself into perfecting his wandless magic. After finally convincing Percy to let him put a pull up bar leading into his bathroom, there was a lot of amusing himself with working out too.

His new dragon, Hedeon, was growing well and required a lot of training too. Hektor had pretty much followed Iggy around and learned as he went. A dragon was very different and required a lot more attention. It was worth it, just challenging.

When Christmas morning finally rolled around, Harry watched the anarchy begin from his spot tucked underneath Percy's arm, as they both drank coffee and tried to stay out of the way. Albus was already trying to deal with the Great Hall’s set up and having a screaming match with Aberforth, who was running the bar, over the rules being followed. Mat and Minerva were trying to facilitate peace for the sake of the season, but the more the brothers dropped into Gaelic, the less the vampire thought that was a possibility.

"Go mbrise an diabhal cnámh do dhroma!" Abby shouted before storming off for the portrait.

Percy didn't know what Abby yelled, but Harry snorted.

Albus just rolled his eyes and muttered to his little brother's back, "Biodh do ghlainne an-còmhnaidh falamh."

He could tell it was a decent insult because Harry's hand flew to his mouth and Abby skidded to a halt to spin in the Headmaster, "You take that back!"

"Follow the rules."

"You're a real tosser, you know that?!"

Gellert yelled, announcing breakfast was ready, and both professors grabbed their lovers to lead into the kitchen, relieved food for their fae metabolisms might end the fighting, and Percy had no doubts about it helping. He took a couple moments to finish his coffee and Harry did the same, before he demanded as they rose to join the rest, "What did they say?"

"There at the end?" Harry shrugged, "Gabby said that he hoped the devil broke his brother's back, then Gingy cursed him so that his cup would always be empty."

"Damn."

Breakfast was far from a quiet affair, everyone joking, laughing, and opening gifts. Gellert hadn't joined in the 'wait and see' motion, so he was drilling Harry for the smallest slip up. The hours were ticking down to the reveal of his date and the Liberator was not giving up his place in the pool.

Viktor and Cedric had both come to Harry for date advice and the Bulgarian seeker wound up asking Hermione to attend with him, while the Hufflepuff was taking his cousins, Parvati and Padma Patil. Draco was taking Fleur and Ginny had been invited to go with Viktor's little brother, Nikolay, while Ron had asked Luna in a final match that Harry suggested. And, Gellert clarified, Fred was attending with Angelina from the Quidditch team and George was a surprise alongside Neville.

And Harry was going with?

"Let it go, Nagyi," Harry insisted as he stood to make a break for his room, "I'm not saying."

The siren huffed as he sat back and addressed his growing belly, "Your brother is being difficult."

Percy just snorted to his right.

His husband glared at him too, "Your son."

Minerva thanked the blonde for breakfast and she hurried off with Aberforth to the Great Hall. Gellert got up to see them out and didn't notice the vampire's muttered response under his breath, but Albus did. It was hard not to when Percy's aura was absolutely pulsating with green at the first time slip from Harry.

"He lives in your shadow. Thrives there," Albus reminded, "Perce…"

"Yet you're Gingy again, and the brat's Gabby, and now he's Nagyi!"

"He probably just got a vision of what he used to call us. Maybe he just hasn't…"

The Hard Charger stood abruptly to go take a shower, throwing his napkin on the table, "Or maybe he just doesn't want to."

Gellert saw his husband storm into their room and wandered into question Albus. His fae mate told him the issue, but there wasn't much they could do about it. The pair would eventually have a discussion on the topic. 

And there was no use to them not enjoying the terms' return. He hadn't heard the Hungarian nomenclature for grandma in so long that… If Harry wanted to go back to using that, or his nicknames for Albus and Aberforth, then there was absolutely no harm in it.

Both of the boys had the day off for once and the siren hated watching them spend it separately in their bedrooms. Harry was unaware, Percy was pouting. It was still a horrible thing to endure.

Mat and Minerva were shadowing Albus in the Great Hall, while Severus, Remus, and rest of staff were responsible for the students all day. When afternoons came around Père arrived and went to rehearse with Mamie, while Narcissa arrived right behind them. Hermione, Ginny, Luna, and the Patil twins got there just as dinner in the kitchens finished an hour later and Gellert went to help get them ready with Cissy, though he did stop by their bedroom first.

"You have to talk to him."

Percy was sitting in bed, legs crossed, and playing blasted solitaire with his deck of combat cards from the war, decorated with fallen aces' planes, "He hasn't even gotten in the shower yet."

"Percy…"

"What? It's fine. Just drop it."

"Crybaby," Gellert insisted, abandoning their doorway for the spare that was rapidly about to be transformed into the nursery, "Does not even begin to cover it."

Percy sighed and stopped playing, looking over at Tanda on her obsidian perch on the corner, "Is he right?"

_ Yes. _

He cleaned up his cards roughly, "I hate it when he's right."

Once the deck was cleaned up he threw it on their nightstand before going to see what his grandson was doing. The answer was toes to bar's in the doorway to his bathroom. Harry stopped when he saw the Director coming in and just pulled himself up to hang there, "Hey, Grandpa."

"Hey…" He didn't even know what he wanted to say and it probably showed, but he wandered in anyway, "Have a good day?"

"Sure. Kind of boring," Harry grinned, "But, look!"

He waved his left hand and, sure enough, a stag patronus pranced around Percy proudly. It was gorgeous, "Very impressive, Little Prince. How goes the other end of the spectrum?"

"Got it in the Chamber yesterday."

"That's my boy," He approved, before moving to start the conversation off there.

"Bloody hell, it's seven already?" Harry jumped down and moved to get ready, "Gotta get in the shower."

The door shut before he could say anything and Percy just let him go. They could talk about it after the Yule Ball. It was Harry's choice anyway.

He went to get dressed since he was attending with all his lovers. They came in to get ready around him and looked good enough to stop them from attending if they kept on. It was a tempting venture.

Albus was back in a mostly black suit that was accented in Hogwarts colors and had the school shield on the back and breast pocket. Apparently he hadn't worn it since he became Headmaster and Percy thought that was tragic. The things it did for his ass were not to be kept from humanity at large.

Percy's husband was in a silver, brown, and blue suit that represented House Grindelwald. Tanté had made it for him and turned out absolutely splendid. It also showed off his baby bump, which made the vampire just a bit protective.

Mateo was showing his Thunderbird pride in black slacks and an electric blue shirt, his leather jacket having a sparking creature in the back instead of the interior. It was gorgeous and, since they were the only Americans attending by and large, Percy had decided to follow that example. Had to show that Ilvermorny pride.

So, he was in matching back slacks and his wampus jacket, along with a scarlet shirt with gold wampus cuffs. He and Issy had always enjoyed wearing the matching colors of their school houses, even if his traitorous twin sister had gone into Horned Serpent instead of Wampus. And it brought out his nostalgia, doing it again.

By half passed Harry was out of the shower and in his dress robes. He looked dashing and Percy went to let in Fleur, the Second Gens, and Ron when they arrived much to everyone's surprise. Apparently some of them were meeting their dates in the suite along with Harry.

Albus came back at twenty til, because he was not missing the reveal come hell or high water, and they all waited. The Hard Charger got antsy when Hermione was finished first, though she looked lovely in periwinkle and a graceful updo pinned with gold lions, and found the boy had gotten stalled by his hair. Wandering over the taller man inspected his dresser and was shocked.

"Where did you get that?"

"Papa Lobo gave it to me!"

Percy picked the picture up and it struck him why Harry had been growing his hair out all year. The photo he was looking at was from probably mere days before he'd gotten his mating dream with Gellert. His team was flanked out beside him and he'd just gotten his trench coat the day before. Mat had taken the picture in front of the Woolworth building.

"My hair won't do right!"

Glancing up, he realized Harry was trying to slick it back on the sides, but, "That's because you're trying to use a comb. Come here."

The Gryffindor turned to face him and Percy used the counteragent to free his hair of the Sleek Easy tainting it, then grabbed a little more and had the look completed with his hands in two seconds. He'd liked the style back in the day because it was the most he could do without Flea's potion and it was quick to accomplish, "There."

Harry grinned and hugged him after a quick inspection in the mirror, "You're the best!"

He smiled and followed his grandson into the living room. Viktor had arrived by then to pick up Hermione, as well as Cedric. Percy told all the ladies how lovely they looked, then hugged his nieces. When the floo fired they were all surprised, but the smoke certainly cleared to quite the vision. 

Her dress robes were mostly a long black dress with a simple heart neckline, but Percy caught the moment across their bond when Gellert had a vision of it being backless, except for dainty gold chains that enable a large horned serpent in gold and decorated with rubies to slither up her back. There was also a daring slip up her hip to reveal scarlet underskirts decorated with a golden horned serpent in the shape of a triquetra. It was stunning when paired with gold and ruby earrings, a gold choker with a blood red diamond in the middle, and gold snake bracelets slithering up her forearms. The usual braids had been twisted into a fierce updo decorated in scarlet and gold baubles that shimmered.

Harry beamed as soon as she arrived, "Wednesday, darling!"

"Harry, dear," She grinned at him, "Did we win you the pool?"

"We did, my lady," He kissed her hand and Albus groaned.

"Oh my God."

Harry's smirk could cut steel, even as he pulled her out of the path of the floo enabling Pugsley to arrive for George and Dudley for Neville, "Would you like to bow to your betters now or later?"

"Hush," Albus ordered sharply, but Percy could tell he was fighting a grin, "I cannot believe your father didn't come for the reveal."

That baritone Harry inherited from his nephew had never been so even, "Who do you think made the recommendation?"

Albus gasped in afrontment.

"Wednesday!" Percy grinned and rushed to hug them both, "You look lovely, sweetheart!"

"Thank you, Uncle Percy."

The little Horned Serpent would steal the show from everyone.

"Mijo!" The wolf hauled him into a tight embrace, "You just keep skipping levels!"

"Thanks, Papa Lobo."

"Alright, time to face the music," Hogwarts' Headmaster finally declared, moving to open the portrait, "Everyone out!"

Cissy saw them all off and stayed behind to shut up the apartment. The larger part of the band led the way into the Great Hall for the celebration, while the Deathly Quartet brought up the rear. Cameras flashed at their appearance, of course they did. It was the first time they'd been out together since Mat joined them and reporters couldn't wait to confirm the scandal.

The decorations were beautiful. Everything looked like it had been dusted in snow and twelve Christmas Trees took up the corners of the room in triads. One corner had the traditional Christmas theme and the other three had trees decorated for each school that was completing. The usual long tables had been exchanged for smaller tables for resting and most of the room was dedicated to the stage and dance floor.

After their initial entrance behind the kids was over, and Albus was checking over everything for the first dance, Percy and Mat went to hug the old man before he took to the stage. Severus was with him and they roasted the young vampire for playing double agent for his son, but that was nothing compared to Albus coming over and giving him the cold shoulder. The fae’s adopted son only rolled his eyes, of course, knowing he’d get over it fast enough.

The music started and the champions made their entrance. His goddaughter was instantly the most hated girl in Hogwarts and she didn’t even go here. Luckily she was Wednesday Addams, so the hatred just rolled off her like the little Ilvermorny dark princess had been scotch guarded against that shit. Daphne Greengrass just had to take her resting bitchface elsewhere.

Their first dance went off without a hitch and the real music started. All the kids seemed to be having a great time, even if it became clear quickly that some of the dates had been mere shams because of the ‘plus one’ limit on the invitations. Parvati had done the first dance with Cedric, because being the center of attention wasn’t where Padma thrived, and he was attentive to both girls throughout the night; even his hazel eyes kept straying to Harry a couple of times. Viktor was just as guilty of that, even if Hermione seemed to have a great time with the Bulgarian seeker. No, the true date splits were George disappearing with Fred and Angelina, while Neville was stuck happily between Dudley and Puglsey.

He spent a long time having reservations about Harry’s cousin, but in the last year he’d talked to Cissy about it and thawed where the boy was concerned. They’d probably gotten him out of there before that walrus had been able to ruin him forever. And some connections were simply too strong to deny, so he’d put good money on the three being mates when Neville’s magic finished developing in the next year or so; where Harry was overly advanced, the little elf took after his father and was a late bloomer.

Of course, Puglsey had just turned thirteen and the other two were fourteen, so all three had time. There really wasn’t a rush, other than the tradition of the night that was deflowering. He wished good decision making on the kids across the hall as he got his first break to perch on the bar.

“Well, if it isn’t another American who swooped in and stole the show,” Abby accused with a smirk as he left the majority of the bar to Dobby and Winky, “I hope you’re proud of yourself.”

“Indubitably.”

Albus was dancing with Minerva and Mat had Gellert spinning on the floor. When Percy was passed his drink, he and Abby chuckled together when Harry was being put through the paces, unable to leave the dance floor. Ron had proved to be a less than charitable date and some Beauxbatons idiot had gotten caught spiking Nikolay’s punch. When Viktor had taken his inebriated brothers back to their rooms, of course Hermione had been understanding, but that meant she, Ginny, and Luna had been added to the list of ladies his grandson was entertaining.

Four became three when the Bulguarian seeker returned as the last hour of the ball was starting, but the trio of witches were plenty to keep the heir to Vampire Society on his toes. Ginny was in a cute aqua dress that twisted around both of them when they danced. And little Luna was in a white dress with blue and bronze accents, which had a large eagle hood that she didn't have pulled up while dancing. They were all strikingly different, but Percy was fairly sure he'd never seen Wednesday as unable to keep from smiling as much as she had tonight, all three of them spinning around Harry.

"Looks like Dracula and his brides," Abby commented behind him gruffly.

"Don't joke," Percy ordered, "He's exceeded in everything else."

Watching his best friend drain the drink in his hand, the bartender realized that he was genuinely worried about Harry finding his mates. At Time of the Blood. In just a couple of months. On his birthday.

"Perce…"

"I don't want to talk about it. New topic."

Abby snorted, "Please, it didn't work the last five decades and it won't work now."

He wanted to glare at the goat, but he couldn't keep his smile off his face for it to be effective.

"Percy, he's fourteen and not looking to get married until Time of the Blood comes round again. What are you worried about?"

"He wanted to find his mates so much that he was trying to defy the laws of his mind's eye," The vampire sighed and downed the new drink he'd been passed in one go, "What if he's like her and just finds out to disappear in the night?"

Abby reared back a bit. 

Before James had eloped with Severus and Lily, sure he'd heard the man talk about the sister he lost. How Eileen Prince had been just a tot, running around Time of the Blood, living on the shoulders of her mountain of an older brother when he'd just come back from New York City for the first time after escaping Louisiana that January. How she’d waited for decades to get her dream, not minding because that made her just like Percy.

He'd stopped talking about her when they found out the truth though.

It was something they'd bonded over, the sisters they couldn't save, even if they never gave voice to it.

"Do you think I'm going to let that happen?"

Percy jumped a bit. It wasn't just anyone who could sneak up on him. His nephew had always been exceptional in that regard though, "Sev…"

"Uncle Percy, I haven't even started the anti-mating spill yet," He scoffed and hissed, "Though I almost did during that vision hunt. I'm not going to let him become another horror story of the bond."

"Do you really think you could stop him?"

The near thirty-five year old's lip quirked as he studied his son with the three girls on the dance floor, "I suppose it comes down to what Lily's insisted on since Halloween. I might not deage, but I'm not dead yet… I doubt he'd ever try it anyway."

"Really?"

The Head of Slytherin shrugged, "He has his love for this family branded all over him. It's unlikely he'd risk that for anyone."

"Hmm…" Percy watched him disappear into the sea of kids as the last half hour of music started. Some students were already slipping away and many others were trying to get one dance in with their friends.

Staff was meeting in one corner to discuss shut down and Percy took Gellert out for one last dance before he told Abby goodnight to take his husband home. It was a fun night, but Albus didn't need any extra loitering when trying to get two thousand students, possibly drunk, to bed. He felt better for throwing all of his energy into seducing the siren anyway.

Harry left Wednesday with her brother, Mione, and their dates when he went to drop Luna and Ginny off at their towers. He lectured the little eagle on drinking water, because he had snuck them alcohol, and then put her hood up and kissed her beak to say goodnight. Gin hung on him and expressed her gratitude for the older Gryffindor catching Nikolay's drugging, then hanging out with her. The seeker just kissed her crown and told her to get plenty of sleep.

Then he hightailed it back to the Great Hall for one last dance with Wednesday to Pépère's last song. She really was stunning as snow started to cascade down on the remaining dancers and he'd been unable to stop flirting all night. That wasn't easy with a girl like the Horned Serpent, who was like a dark version of Luna, but the same in how little she cared for the opinion of others.

When the song ended and everyone cheered, Harry wasn't surprised when she returned to their previous conversation, "...nd you killed a basilisk there when you were twelve?"

"Yes," Harry shrugged as he thought back a bit, everyone filing out around them, "Of course, the beast wasn't the problem. Just the loon controlling it."

"Can I see it?"

"What?"

"The Chamber of Secrets!"

Harry laughed and grabbed her hand, "Of course you can, darling."

Everyone was saying goodnight to their dates in the entryway, or trailing up the stairs toward bed together, and it wasn't hard to cast a delusion charm on the open end of the staff entrance hallway. Then a glance up to the High Table confirmed that no one was there to glance down and catch them, so with a hiss he popped open the picture of the founders and bowed, "My lady."

She smiled and started down the dark hallway. When he closed the portrait behind them, torches lit down an otherwise pitch black tunnel and the witch led their way down. At the end of the torches an opening let them out into a huge stone cavern filled with snake statues and an unbelievable huge bust of the man she'd just seen in the portrait, who'd been dressed in green, "This is incredible!"

The future vampiress spun around and Harry just stared at her, "Yes, it is."

When she looked back to realize that he was talking about her, Wednesday scoffed, "Going to begin another ballad?"

He flushed and shook his head, "I took a shot. Sue me."

Dark eyes rolled in his direction, "Find a song that both seduces and threatens, then we'll talk."

"Hmm…" Harry hadn't truly engaged his third eyes since he over used it. Some things he couldn't help but cross his knowledge, but that hadn't been active engagement. After a moment, he offered, "I think I've found just the one."

"Oh?"

"What's the harm in letting me try?" Harry demanded, hands slipping into his pockets as he stepped up to put them nose to nose, "And if you don't like it, you can always laugh at me again."

"Very well, Harry, dear," Her smile was small, "Let's see your best serenade."

He'd been learning sand magics, illusions only capable of being cast by genies, and Harry had gotten pretty good at hacking into that inheritance. So, it wasn’t truly a challenge to take control of the sounds of water and wind that made up the Chamber and turn them into music of a sort. It did strike him, before he forced himself to focus, that he’d have to show the trick to Papa Lobo sometime. 

Wednesday jumped and looked around when other voices, like a choir, first started, ”Confiteor Deo Omnipotenti, Beatae Mariae semper Virgini, Beato Michaeli archangelo, Sanctis apostolis omnibus sanctis.”

Harry just grinned and stepped back up to tower over her, “Beata Maria, you know I am a righteous man. Of my virtue I am justly proud.”

“Et tibi Pater,” The music and choir continued around her and it struck the witch quickly that she may have underestimated the abilities of the wizard she’d followed into a dark and solitary place. It would have been worrying, if it wasn’t thrilling.

“Beata Maria, you know I'm so much purer than,” Harry moved just a step away, “The common, vulgar, weak, licentious crowd.”

“Quia peccavi nimis.”

“Then tell me, Maria, why I see her dancing there,” Harry began to move around her, but Wednesday held his gaze without moving, refusing to be cowed, “Why her smold'ring eyes still scorch my soul?”

“Cogitatione.”

“I feel her, I see her, the sun caught in her raven hair,” He disappeared behind her for a moment, “Is blazing in me out of all control.”

“Verbo et opere.”

“Like fire, hellfire, this fire in my skin,” When he reappeared next to her, Harry had turned amidst the song, so that he was still facing her as he came around, “This burning desire is turning me to sin.”

Wednesday looked around, almost expecting something to happen, as the music picked up around them and Harry began to move away. It was like he was in competition when the choir suddenly and exhilarating. 

“It's not my fault!”

“Mea culpa!”

“I'm not to blame!”

“Mea culpa!”

“It is the gypsy girl,” He insisted, “The witch who sent this flame!”

“Mea maxima culpa!”

“It's not my fault, if in God's plan,” The competition didn’t end as he continued, “He made the devil so much stronger than a man!”

“Protect me, Maria. Don't let the siren cast her spell. Don't let her fire sear my flesh and bone,” What the witch wasn’t expecting was for Harry to spin where he had stopped twenty feet from her, emerald green flames erupting in a circle between them that could only be one spell, “Destroy Esmeralda and let her taste the fires of Hell! Or else let her be mine and mine alone.”

Was Wednesday tempted? Of course she was. It was a chance to cross Protego Diabolica. The number of people alive who could say they’d done that were countable on one hand!

“Hellfire, dark fire. Now gypsy, it's your turn,” Harry raised his chin to her in the center of the flames, “Choose me or your pyre. Be mine or you will burn!”

Crossing through the flames was the first bout of warmth she’d felt since arriving in the Chamber of Secrets and it lingered. It felt like every nerve in her body was alight. Even when she made it through unscathed and was once again nose to nose with harry.

“God have mercy on her, God have mercy on me,” Harry finished, undeniably going into a range all his own vocally, “But she will be mine or she will burn!”

They kissed and Harry would determine after the fact that he very much liked getting to lead. Wednesday very much liked losing her virginity in the Chamber of Secrets surrounded by Protego Diabolica. And they both very much enjoyed sneaking around to dodge the staff search parties that were prowling when they finally decided to leave the hideout.

Not that they didn't spend hours just running around exploring and starting up several rounds. It was easy to be with Wednesday. Both could spend hours just talking about Time of the Blood and how much fun they were going to have, since it was her and Pugsley's first time going too.

When they finally called it a night though, it was very much morning. Ariana's portrait confirmed no one else was up in the suit and he was able to get his date home unaccosted. Then jumping in the shower felt like washing off a year's worth of happenings.

After the inevitable crash and rebound, it was back to their previously scheduled lives. Grandpa Percy had work, and Gingy had Chief Warlock duties, and the stone hallows of the Deathly Quartet were attempting to keep both of them running, so the world would do the same. While they were chasing their tails, Harry was on his way to Gabby's for a drink with the band until the holidays ended and classes were back in session.

New Year's Eve was a big party and the most interesting happening of the night was Ginny and Luna both flowering much to their shock. When Hermione first came to him as he was departing the stage from singing 'Oro Se Do Bheatha Bhaile' after midnight arrived, he'd assumed a couple of the boys got into a fight after one too many, but that was certainly not the case. Harry had just used his jacket to get them both back to the castle for a change of clothes unfettered, while Mione covered for their absence.

Gin took it pretty well. After all, as the only girl, Mrs. Weasley had her pretty prepared for the eventuality. She already knew how the fae inheritance that the witch got from her father would manifest differently because she was a girl. And the future chaser of Gryffindor was fairly fine with the knowledge that a mating dream could now come any day, or it could not for years.

Harry had to confess, "That's the part of it all I hate. Inevitability is copable, chance is a pain in the arse."

"Even sirens don't always get it at fifteen," The scarlet lioness reminded, even though it was far less likely, "They could be younger than you."

"Great, I could end up waiting a hundred years like the old man," He scoffed, "Nearly two centuries, in some cases."

"Sounds pleasant to me."

Harry glanced down to the blonde under his other arm, "Why's that, Blondie?"

Luna just shrugged.

She'd been quiet since they left the bar and he shared a look with Ginny as they both realized that something wasn't sitting right with the little elf. Harry pulled her in closer, until there was little choice but for her to come along and wrap her arms around his middle as they followed the path back to Hogwarts, "What's the matter, Moonbeam?"

"What if we hate each other? What if they hate me?"

"Then I make a phone call and they get eaten."

"Harry!"

Ginny just snorted and tried to her amusement in his other shoulder.

"Luna, sweetie, everyone knows you're the Scamander princess. You're going to end up with someone great."

Silver eyes rolled below him, "I don't even have the last name."

Harry recognized the same crisis that he'd been having during the summer, "And yet you live at the Hard Chargette's house more than your dad's. You are the only daughter of her only daughter, the only girl in your family, and the only other person to have Theseus' elf inheritance."

"And weird."

Emerald eyes rolled down to her, "Your ability to be yourself is your best quality. And I will fight anyone who ever tries to make you be anything else."

That finally got a small smile from her and she squeezed him before pondering, "What if I don't want to have sex with anyone? Even after I turn fourteen?"

"Oh, that's easy, Luna!" Ginny insisted as they made it through the main gate, "Don't."

Harry grinned at the easy way the little fae put her foot down. The Weasley boys all thought she was gunning for the fire element and there was a good chance that they were right. He just thought there was as much a chance that she'd go for the earth element as well; even if she wielded herself like a whomping willow when the situation called for it.

"That's right, Moonbeam. Anyone puts any pressure on you and they can come have a talk with us."

Once the girls were settled, he went back to the party and assured Hermione that they were fine, the pair even coming back an hour later. Harry probably would have gone home, but it was about to be the Deathly Quartet's anniversary and he'd elected himself to stay with Gabby for a couple of days. It's not like the Liberator could get more pregnant, but he knew the lot well enough to know they'd be making sure.

It was always fun when he got to hangout with the younger Dumbledore brother anyway. He'd been trying to endure his brother and Grandpa Percy for a near century and hadn't been passive about trying to get them to communicate either. There was always one more story of the last five decades in particular to make him laugh when the bartender was around.

Eventually classes started back up and everyone was gearing up for the second task in February. Neville had the gillyweed and counter agent ready to go. And Harry had more free time than he truly knew what to do with.

It had never occurred to him that entering the Triwizard Tournament would be associated with boredom.

Worked out well enough when he wound up coming out of the woods to Gabrielle Delacour being harassed by three sixth years from Durmstrang though. It wound up not being much of a fight when it all came down to it, but the altercation gave him something to do. As soon as he had Gabby safely behind him, they all wanted to talk trash, but couldn't follow through.

Harry had stepped up to the ringleader and clarified, "One more cunt who can harass a little girl, but not someone willing to take a stand. Now either hedge your bets to the tilt, you absolute diddy, or take your sheep and leave."

Pride was a difficult thing to war with, Harry had learned that the hard way when he thought about what could have gone wrong if Grandpa Percy hadn't shown up the year before, but eventually they made the right choice and scattered away. Once they'd gone for distance he checked on the first year and got her back up to the castle. It was a Tuesday, so after he got done with three hours in Dueling Club with Pops, he shouldn't have been surprised when it came up over second dinner.

"What was that incident by the lake today?" Gingy demanded as soon as he'd been lured into a false sense of security about no one telling him.

"Lake? What lake?"

"Harry," Grandpa Percy corrected, barely even looking up from his plate.

The teenager just glared at his near identical parent, who he knew had been on grounds duty over by Hagrid's, and more than likely sold him out.

Nagyi looked around all of them curiously, "What happened?"

"Nothing," Harry answered honestly with a shrug, "Bunch of brutes from your alma mater had Gabrielle cornered down by the lake."

"Oh, gods," The siren sighed, "What did you do to them?"

Harry scoffed and couldn't even fight a grin, "Nothing! I didn't even slap the lead diddy and, let me assure you, I thought about it."

Albus huffed, "Harry…"

"Don't even. How many fights did you end for your brother in school?" He challenged right away, "Nothing even happened! I just stepped in before it could."

"He's got a point, Copper Top."

Two sets of blue eyes met as the ginger seemed to silently converse with his vampire mate for a minute and Harry hated it when they did that. Mostly because he was never sure if he'd come out on the winning side of them getting on the same page. It worked out in this instance though, with the Headmaster conceding that he hadn't done anything wrong, per se, but he did request that the teenager play nice and not give Karkaroff an excuse to show his arse.

Harry insisted that the jerk should first teach his students not to harass little girls, but agreed to keep the peace. Dinner continued and soon he was one his way back to Gryffindor Tower. If he stopped by the Room of Requirement for a joint then that was his business, because Dean had a sensitive sniffer and didn't like them smoking in the dorm.

He was standing before the wall waiting for a space to be created when Fleur showed up. They talked for a minute about what happened and she offered her gratitude. With the hour nearing midnight, Harry just invited her in to join him and the Beauxbatons champion accepted.

They smoked and talked for a few hours.

Eventually Harry had to laugh as he confessed, "Kid's not even here yet and… I swore to never becoming a Dark Lord, but if someone ever hurt her, we'd find out just how far I'd go."

"I'm much the same over ma petite soeur," She was leaning back on him, "Did you want a brother?"

The room had transformed into a cozy seating area with a brown leather sectional and roaring fireplace. And there was a storm raging outside the wall of windows the specialized room in Hogwarts had created and Harry shrugged as he studied the lightning strikes, "Can't say that I had much of a preference."

"What will you do after the tournament?"

"Nothing all that different than what I was doing before," Harry confessed, "Go into my O.W.L. year and get ready to become an aerial combat specialist. Try to turn the ginger grey again. What about you?"

"Perhaps I would like to get married. Settle down," She shrugged, "My family keeps calling this my last hurrah."

"Well, let's make sure we all come out of this hurrah in one piece," Harry suggested before taking a hit, "Before we start planning our next."

He knew what was about to happen when Fleur kissed him and it was easy to ignore the small part of his brain that knew his family would give him shit. The witch was soft and warm; she tasted like pastries and cakes. It was truly just a night of them being sentimental and passionate, but it was nice to spend the time pondering what their adult years in the magical world would look like.

Fleur was part veela and those of such a lineage rarely ever got mixed up in mating. The same went for intimacy daemons and many other magical races. Only a small number of communities, such as sirens, vampires, and faes found their destined matches in dreams. Elves too. The Beauxbatons student was fascinated by Harry's kind, never having to wonder who their soulmate was.

He confessed to curiosity about his destiny much the same. Yes, he'd made a deal not to go looking for the answer until his birthday. That didn't mean Harry's sense of inclination wasn't peaked a hundred times a day.

When they finally parted in the early hours of the morning, Harry collapsed into bed and figured that he had a shot of sleeping until the second task, he was so tired. It didn't work out quite that well, but he survived the initial explosion of tongues as word got out that he'd slept with all the other champions in the tournament. The real issue concerned who was worse, his peers or his family.

He let them have their fun though.

When the second task finally came around, his siren grandfather had three months of pregnancy left and didn’t like them fighting in his presence, so as the morning started off with Gabrielle and Nikolay missing he took their charge straight to the Headmaster’s Office. Turned out the pair had been kidnapped to be held hostage, in addition to Luna and Parvati. The students all taking the form of the treasure in order to motivate them beyond what a trinket could possibly do.

It didn’t change his plan all that much. He used gillyweed and didn’t have to pull his wand thanks to his vessel ring. Plus he’d waterproofed the jeans, shirt, and his jacket. So the merpeople of the lake, quite literally, didn’t see him coming.

He was able to watch the rest compete and the solutions created by his competitors were ingenious. Cedric got Vati out of there using the bubble head charm and came in second, while Fleur wound up using the same charms though she didn’t finish the task meaning she came in last. With both of Hogwarts’ champions in first a second place, Viktor came in third, but got docked points for only completing the animagus transformation partially.

Harry warned him that trying to ensure he got an aquatic animal wasn’t going to work out well.

As March started, Harry was working on his auror applications. Tina and Theseus were both helping him, because he had to send them off after completing his fourth year, but before his fifth; that way they could be listed as ‘status pending’ until he had the necessary grades his last three years. With them going to Time of the Blood for a fortnight at the end of his summer, there was no doubt that he’d need to get them out as soon as the year ended.

Hermione was in much the same boat as she wanted to gain entry into the Ministry and their application process was much the same. Pops wound up kicking them out of his lab when the bickering got rough, but he did tell them about a secluded spot in the library. Harry found the tension that had been growing between himself and one of his best friends was relievable; he also was a bigger fan of sex that someone could walk in on than he’d realized after his tryst with Daphne.

Ironic since that was the only one of his encounters that the school at larger didn’t find out about. Hermione just rolled her eyes and proclaimed that she was capable of keeping her mouth shut. And it didn’t change anything about their relationship.

The lioness wasn’t looking to date seriously for some years to come; at least until she was out of school. And everyone knew that Harry wasn’t doing anything serious until after Time of the Blood. It was just nice to have someone they could relieve tension with for the rest of the school year without further expectations or labels.

Although Hermione had her first time with Viktor after the Yule Ball, she confessed that she didn’t want to lead him on, and Harry agreed to much the same. It was obvious that the Bulgarian really wanted someone to connect with and neither of them could do that. She had plans to be Minister of Magic one day and Harry wasn’t banking on anything until his birthday; perhaps not even then, if he didn’t find out who his mates would be.

At ten months and with younger additions about to be added to the family, the band was excited to see who Teddy and Vinda would take their first steps for. The pair were being held on the sidewalk just below the bottom of the stairs and Harry and Draco were encouraging them from a few feet away as all their friends spanned out behind. Bets had been placed and the two seemed determined to go for it this Hogsmeade weekend.

"Come on, Teddy!" Harry encouraged, "You can do it, bud!"

"Don't let them psych you out, Vin! You've got this!"

Teddy's hair changed to match the Boy Who Lived's right, before he took his first tentative step away from Tonks. The auror let go when he proved to have his balance well enough and Little Vinda was watching him perplexed. With everyone still cheering and seeing the little wizard take off, it emboldened her to take the plunge as well.

Didn't change the fact that Teddy got to the Gryffindor first, but both babies were cheered when they proved successful. Their accomplishment meant that Harry was even more ampt for the arrival of his own sibling. The time could not fly by fast enough.

"I know you could do it, bud" He kissed the baby's cheek as his dark and curly locks bled back to blue.

He just giggled and grabbed hold of the teenager's collar, "Kitty!"

April came around and Harry proved that his new school team wouldn’t be second best to anyone; not even Viktor Krum. Karkaroff only had a stroke when Durmstrang lost by sixty points, but the fourth year did end up having one more round with Viktor in the showers later. Apparently the older seeker had no problem being shown up and even got turned on by it.

If that later turned into a threesome with Hermione, then it was their business.

Even if he and the witch made a pact later that it was the last time.

When May finally came around they were all on baby watch and no one was surprised when Aunt Cissy went first, since twins were notorious for coming early. At least the boys were considerate enough to come on a weekend and even managed to time themselves to have different birthdays. Orion Romii came on May 13th and his identical twin brother, Astro Romulus, was born on May 14th, just a few minutes later. Where Draco and Vinda had looked just like their mother, the twins took after Sirius from stem to stern, according to the Slytherin when he got back up to the castle. 

It was a little over two weeks later before Harry got to meet his own younger sibling. He got the patronus in his dormitory in the early morning of May 30th, before he’d even woken up for the day. The Headmaster made it clear that he wasn’t permitted to simply skip everything that day, so Harry went to class under protest, but lucked into being at home during his three hours off that day when the Deathly Quartet finally brought the little princess home.

And she was bloody well perfect.

She had heterochromia like Nagyi, but where the siren had blue and brown eyes, Ariana had blue and green. Her scarlet hair was clearly from the ginger, her pale complexion from the majority of her parentage, and Harry was absolutely in love. Even when he was hurried out to get to Dueling Club, so she could be put down in the menagerie themed nursery that the Liberator spent way too much time on, he talked about the little bundle for the rest of the night.

Ariana Lorelei Potter had the front page in stitches Wednesday morning, everyone wanting to know if her parents would be bringing her to the final task, but Harry already knew that was a huge resounding no. They weren’t going to expose her to the madness that was Hogwarts at the moment, not at a mere month old. And she wouldn’t even quite be that when Harry was thrust into the maze for the scavenger hunt from Merlin’s anus by their resident Flaming Flamingo.

  
“Oh, how quickly your brother forgets,” The Chief Warlock recounted as Gellert was walking her around to get the baby to doze off, “I tried to stop him.”

He hadn’t even looked up from whatever he was reading and Harry chuckled, “I suppose I have to give you that one.”

“What’s this I hear about you failing the final round of Special Operations Training,” Percy demanded, still finishing his paperwork at the communal desk in the living room.

“Only because I didn’t have the juice left after the other levels!” Harry insisted, shooting up from the sofa where he’d been laid out lounging, “I didn’t even break a sweat when I faced it again after recharging!”

“I’m shocked,” Gellert muttered unhappily, glaring at the back of his husband’s head, “Who could have imagined that sort of training would be too much for a fourteen year old?”

“He did fine,” The Hard Charger waved his husband off and abandoned the work to remind Harry, “It’s something to keep an eye on in the maze though.”

“Who are you telling, Grandpa?” The fourth year demanded.

Chuckling, the vampire sent him back to Gryffindor Tower for the night, wanting him to get a good night's sleep before the next night. He wasn't truly worried about Harry failing that first round, Fleur hadn't gotten through Theseus' training regimine and she was seventeen, but his youngest did best when being challenged. Wouldn't do for the teenager to think he'd done exceptionally even compared to grown aurors, who'd gotten their jobs despite failing the last round.

Once Ariana was down for a couple of hours, they all drug themselves to bed for a bit of adult time, something that seemed to have disappeared with their daughter's birth. Mat studied his best friend of nearly two centuries as they all stripped, "You could still talk to him about it."

"There's nothing to talk about."

"Percy…"

"Drop it," He ordered tersely, "He calls me 'Grandpa' and it's fine."

"No, it's clearly not," Albus broke in, pulling on his sweats, "It's gone on for months now. Just talk to him."

"No."

And that was it. No.

The other three wizards looked at one another helplessly. It really had gone on too long. They didn't know why the Hard Charger was so sensitive about Harry not using a nickname for him, but the frustration and longing clearly were not going away.

That knowledge didn't stop the sun from rising the next morning or Hogwarts once more being besieged on all sides by Ministry Officials. Albus caught four separate reporters trying to sneak into their home and felt relieved that Cissy had offered to keep all the kids at the Black house with Aberforth. He was not exposing his daughter to this madness and his brother was positive that he'd get to celebrate Harry's victory at the Hog's Head during the coming weekend.

All the aurors in the family were on duty and present, but there truly hadn't been worry for a resurgence from Tom's followers since Percy came back on the scene. After a peaceful year, the fae wasn't truly expecting any trouble. It was just always good to be prepared.

Finals finished up throughout the day and students ran around beyond excited. Albus tried not to feed off the excitement too much, but some of it was inevitable. He was back in the same suit he'd won for the Yule Ball and so were his mates, as everyone was under scrutiny from the media.

When the night went off without a hitch, just as the other two tasks had, it shouldn't have been such a surprise, but Albus was still shocked. Harry went in first, followed by Cedric, then Viktor, and finally Fleur. They all faced task after task and were quite impressive in their showmanship concerning the different challenges.

The night came to a head only when all four faced off in the center of the maze, each champion coming upon the Triwizard Cup from a different direction. They were dirty and tired. And clearly startled to be facing one another as their last challenge of the night.

"What do we do now?" Fleur demanded in the reflector screen, long blonde hair trapped in a fierce dutch braid.

"Only one fair thing to do," Harry shrugged, "We duel for it."

And duel they did.

For two hours.

Harry and Fleur faced off in a match that ended quickly with the witch's defeat. No one was truly shocked. Albus wasn't trying to be a tosser, but she really was the weakest champion in the mix.

Viktor and Cedric were the real duel to see. They'd been glaring at one another for months now and finally got the chance for it to come to a head without them getting into trouble. It was truly brutal combat and ended with Cedric victorious.

When the Hufflepuff and Harry faced off, Albus knew what was going to happen before it did. The blonde of their pair didn't even let Harry engage him in the duel and instead just threw his wand to his challenger in a forfeit. Everyone around the stadium gasped when he gave up the chance for eternal glory and exchanged it for a stolen kiss from the Gryffindor.

Harry grabbed the trophy and the maze flew apart instantly, leaves shooting upward to become a fabulous firework display. Students erupted into celebration and flooded the Quidditch Pitch to get to all four of them. It was fine for a few minutes, but eventually Poppy insisted that they all undergo an examination before going with their families.

"You did it, Mijo! And managed to follow in the family tradition!"

"It's not a tradition!" Gellert insisted for the hundredth time.

"It is now!" Harry and Percy chorused at the exact same time.

Albus chuckled, "They've got you there, G."

The only harm done to Harry was a bout of low magic, but even that wasn't nearly as bad as the rest of the champions by some miracle, and soon they had him going home for the night. Albus ran down to Hogsmeade to get their daughter and barely stopped an eye roll as the teenager spun the tale of his victory for the three week old girl. He was simply too much and certainly got his sensationalism from Percy’s side of the family.

But, Gellert had been right.

The little princess had a lot to live up to.

"What are you going to do about Cedric and Viktor?" Albus demanded.

"Nothing to do!" Harry tried to dismiss him with a wave where he was sprawled on the sofa in nothing but his Gryffindor sweats after a shower, "We're not dating. They know that."

"Really?" Gellert scoffed and reminded, "Back in our day that kind of sacrifice warranted a marriage proposal."

The Headmaster of Hogwarts snorted from his place in his recliner, but he didn't bother to argue.

Harry didn't bother to hide his grin as he looked right at the scarlet half of his family's Triwizard tradition, "As if I could be bought for such a low price."

Despite the pain potion he'd been given earlier, the mouthy Gryffindor had enough coordination to jump up, duck, and dodge every jinx that Albus fired at him, until he finally reached his bedroom and the door slammed shut. Damn near two years later and he still couldn't live down the remark, even when Harry had twice the number of lovers in not nearly the time, "Your son!"

Percy chuckled and pulled him down on the loveseat, where he'd shot up to go after their grandson, "Why mine?"

"He wants to take after you in every other way," The scholar noted with a huff, "Why not your ambitious bachelor record too?"

"I've told you that was greatly exaggerated!"

Mat snorted from his perch at the bar, "And I told them you were a filthy, slutty, liar if there ever was one."

Flipping the green eyed vampire off, Percy pulled Albus onto his lap with his other hand, "Well, Chief, I guess you'll just have to get me in line."

Gellert snickered and moved toward the nursery, "At least let me get Ana down first."

Percy pulled Albus into a kiss and when they finally parted he noted, “I guess Time of the Blood and his siren inheritance are the next big adventure.”

“Right along with us getting married,” Mat noted, plopping down on the man’s other side, “Just gotta kick all the kids out first.”

Albus chuckled, “Three weeks cannot pass fast enough.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello All!
> 
> I got this chapter done last night and, since today is my birthday, I decided to post it as a present of sorts to myself. In my neck of the woods all hell is breaking loose with COVID-19, so I hope everyone is safe and healthy wherever you are. Also, if you have holidays coming up, I hope you have a great one!
> 
> This chapter is really just a bridge, to get us from young Harry’s adventures to older Harry, because I want to show a bit of him going, at least, through sixth and seventh year. Explore and bit let us see him with that new baby sister. Hopefully it will be fun!
> 
> I have versions of this where it goes every which way but loose. This will be the last chance before we find out who Harry’s mated to though. Pretty much anyone is game. Let me know how you’re feeling about matches.
> 
> <3<3<3


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To the bridge chapter! I wasn't going to post this until Valentine's Day, but it's done, so enjoy!
> 
> Alright, I'm just going to split my updates. Just to give everyone a glimpse into the life, there was a political riot right in my neck of the woods at the beginning of January. As a result I am applying to a job in Virginia and hoping to hear that I got the position somtime this week (hopefully today, but we'll see) and that would affect updates any number of ways. Since I will have to facilitate the physical move and start a brand new position, it might make things slow, but see the end notes for the good news!

After Harry won the tournament most of Hogwarts seemed to be packed into the Hog’s Head like sardines to celebrate the victory. Percy stayed out of the fray, but was there watching after work from his station in Aberforth’s booth, both of them laughing at the glaring contest between Viktor and Cedric behind the Gryffindor’s back. Everyone crushing on the most eligible wizard of his generation was praying to feature in the teenager’s valentine dream when the clock struck midnight on the thirty first. All while he was praying the teenager would take after him in one more way; he wouldn’t get it right away.

It would be such a relief.

For him, at least.

Harry didn’t say it, but he wanted to know so badly his skin was crawling.

And the three wizards Percy was about to marry couldn’t wait to find out who their son was destined for. Albus had finally caved and started participating in Minerva’s betting pool, so theories about who the Little Prince would end up with were running rampant throughout the whole family. All while the Hard Charger and Severus were hoping there wouldn’t even be a wrench thrown in Harry’s life for him to manage.

The next week passed in a blink and soon all the students were leaving campus; first the visiting schools, then the Hogwarts lot loading onto the train. Those that were in Harry’s band didn’t stay gone for long though. After a couple of days at home, it was just like the summer before, everyone hanging out playing Quidditch or spending time at the Hog’s Head, speculation going mad amongst them.

His youngest son’s nights, when not spent at the family tavern, were spent pouring back over his auror applications which couldn’t get any better. Percy, Tina, and Theseus had read over them numerous times for each and by the second week in July, he was ordering the rising fifth year to just get them in. Applicants were limited to ten possible employers until they got responses, following making the grades at the end of Harry’s coming school year, and that had been a brutal list to figure out.

Eventually the four of them agreed that MACUSA, the British Ministry of Magic, and France’s auror department were his top choices. Harry had also applied to the department created by the Eastern European Quintet Ministry, or EEQM, composed of Romania, Hungary, Moldova, Serbia, and the Ukraine, as a safety net, in addition to the Viking Force, composed of Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Since he wasn’t allowed to use more than half of his applications on any one career path that was his cap for being an auror.

With the other five applications Harry had applied to work at Newt’s up and coming menagerie in the UK, the dragon preserve where Charlie Weasley worked in Romania, as a full time apprentice to Hagrid, for his Potions Mastery, and a healing license. Percy warned him at least a hundred times that it had taken the vampire decades of applying to get into MACUSA and that it might not happen right away. And his grandson seemed quite content to spend a couple of years getting his licenses in other areas if he had to, before becoming an aerial combatant.

They were all sure that he was going to be accepted at several places and agreed not to worry about what his relocation would look like until they knew more. Harry didn't say as much out loud, but it was just a sense the Director got that the teenager wanted to do basic training somewhere other than Britain and that wasn't surprising. He'd had to go through school with family on the staff and it would be a good experience for him.

Provided Gellert didn't raise unholy and immortal hell.

They were leaving Hogwarts before the rise of the new moon on July 27th and weren't coming back until the full moon waned into dawn on August 10th. Until then there was only a countdown to the big day and business as usual. Percy had work and Albus had a lot to get done before they could leave. Mat was trying to assist the Headmaster and Gellert was taking care of Ana as he got them ready for the trip.

There wasn't too much to do, but the siren had decided to make some of his famous Ambrosia Fudge to give to Harry when his siren inheritance came in. He'd had periodical bad days over the course of the last year, but that night was always brutal on the bodies of young magicians with the inheritance and his special recipe could knock out a dragon. So, that's what he and Mat were doing Sunday morning of the weekend before they left, while Albus and Percy were at Mass.

It was rare that Harry slept past ten, but it was clearly a bad day when he pulled himself into the kitchen two hours after that, already shielding his eyes from the light. Gellert just waved him over and hugged the near fifteen year old, letting the boy suck off his stable siren magic for a few minutes. He remembered going through this and wouldn't wish it on his worst enemy.

"Rough night, Little Prince?"

"Just kept telling myself that if I didn't open my eyes," Harry scoffed in the crook of his neck, "Then it wouldn't be that bad."

“Hmm… Why don’t you go smoke and I’ll get you something to eat?”

He didn’t even respond before trudging back to the living room and the older siren absolutely hated this for him. Watching the teenager go for a moment, his attention was pulled back to the table by an affronted coo and the shake of a tiny gavel. Mat was already laughing at the two month old’s apparent outrage and the sight made Gellert crack a smile too.

“Eh-eh-uh!” Ana slammed the scarlet and gold gavel rattle that Percy had gotten her as a joke, because it matched Albus’ from his Chief Warlock position, against the brightly colored lion and snake toys on the bar above her, a blue and green eye both trained on the archway that Harry had disappeared through from her place on the table in her baby lounger that featured a large Hogwarts shield, “Mmm! Mmm!”

“I know, princess,” The blonde wizard chuckled as he wandered over, “You’re supposed to be the center of attention. He’ll be back in a minute.”

She made an unhappy noise and threw her rattle away, both eyes focusing in on the archway as it was almost certain that the baby was waiting on her brother’s return. Mat chuckled, and picked it up, “Come on, Princesa, give your brother a break. He’s having a bad day.”

The two month old wouldn’t take the rattle back, but she did slowly leave her fixation on the door as both men went back to what they’d been doing before Harry got up. Mat reading the paper to find out everything Percy hadn’t told them about a skirmish he got into with poachers the previous Friday and Gellert fixing the resident Triwizard champion lunch. Their lovers and soon to be husbands got home a few minutes later and Ana was further distracted by both men’s presence.

When Harry finally pulled himself together enough to eat something, his skin no longer felt like it was trying to vibrate right off of him like an extra layer of clothing, he came back and kissed his gurgling baby sister, "Morning, squirt."

"Ahh!"

Albus ran a hand through the younger Gryffindor’s unruly hair when Harry claimed his usual spot next to him, “Migraine?”

“Mmhmm.”

“The masses will simply have to live without you for a day,” Percy chuckled and they all tucked into lunch.

Harry felt a little more human after eating and took an excitable Ariana to his bedroom for supervised tummy time. It was something the baby really enjoyed, mostly getting to lay on his calves and get kisses as he worked out, but Mat followed him to make sure that the up and coming siren didn't over do it. Percy watched them go and was relieved that his lover was going to keep an eye on things.

Harry tended to put his ambitions before his growing body.

After a few minutes Albus left to go read in the living room and the vampire was left in the kitchen with his husband. Wandering over to the counter, all the ingredients for fudge were already there and Gellert was getting his milk of the poppy, a jug of Phoenix House Wine, and his THC extract out of the locked cabinet that held far more than just alcohol. All Percy could do was stare, though it felt like doing it for another century would never be enough.

When he turned to see the Hard Charger staring at him, that silver blonde head tilted curiously, "What?"

Percy shook his head, "I was just wondering something."

"That would be?"

He didn't answer until the younger wizard wandered over and started working on his special recipe, "We ran into Sirius on the way back. Cissy's already in a snit about trying again."

"Oh."

Percy chuckled and shrugged, crossing his arms and leaning back on the counter, but already having his suspicions confirmed by Gel's apprehensive tone, "And we just noticed that you haven't been. Especially when we'll be able to at Time of the Blood."

"We can have another."

He hummed and pulled his husband away from the treat, into his arms, "Just because we can, doesn't mean you want to."

That got him a kiss and a sigh, before the Liberator finally confessed, "I don't know. We've just had Flea, and James, and Albus had Lily. And now we've got Harry and Ariana. I just…"

"Don't want anymore?" Percy suggested after he'd trailed off, "Contentedness is not a crime, G."

"No? It feels like one."

"Baby boy, it's not a contest," Stealing another kiss from the shorter wizard, Percy insisted, "I'm sure Harry will teach his sister to keep us on our toes just like he has the last couple years."

"You're not disappointed?"

"Not at all."

"Do you think Mat will be? He's only had Ana."

The vampire in question answered them as he came back into the kitchen for a drink, "He's fine with it. This baby thing is a lot of work!"

"Alright, Llorona," Percy rolled his eyes, but he was fine as quickly as he'd come and it was just them again, "It's alright, Baby Boy. We'll all stop at five and be quite content."

The rest of their time before the vampire holiday flew by and it didn't take more than a day before Harry's friends came looking for him. Luckily the one bad day seemed to be the worst of it and he was back to himself before they left. In fact, they barely saw him until the day they had to leave, since everyone in the band wanted time with him before the Prince heir disappeared for a fortnight.

Most incensed about the whole thing was Ana. No one could deny that she was attached to her big brother and noticed whenever he was gone for too long. Percy hoped that she’d grow out of it before Harry started relocating. After all, he’d be at Hogwarts for his O.W.L year, but the Director had seen the study abroad applications for both Durmstrang and Ilvermorny on the boy’s desk and it answered a lot of questions about the interrogation that he’d been putting both the vampire and Gellert through since school ended.

Once the teenager was in bed the night before they left, Percy finally asked Mateo if he’d been suffering the same inquisition that they had, “...Or is it just us?”

“No,” The musician shrugged, “He’s been asking me too. What’s that about?”

“I think maybe he wants to study abroad,” He confessed, putting all of his jeans into his suitcase, “I saw a couple of letters to Wednesday and Pugsley too. And Viktor.”

“No,” Gel insisted vehemently, “I don’t want him anywhere near Durmstrang. Absolutely not!”

Albus squeezed his husband’s shoulders, “I’m sure we can persuade him to go to Ilvermorny. Has he said when?”

“Not to me,” Mat denied with a shake of his head.

“Probably his sixth year,” Percy guessed, “It would make the most sense.”

“He’s not going!”

“Baby Boy…”

“No! We’ve had him for two years and he’s not leaving home unless it’s for work,” Gellert insisted with a hiss, “And only then because he’ll be seventeen and I can’t stop him!”

“G,” Albus was packed and quickly pulled the Liberator into the window seat, “This is a perfectly natural thing for him to want to do. He’d be home for holidays and it would just be for one year.”

“One year too many.”

Mat shut his suitcase and suggested, “He’s still got to apply. Maybe he won’t be accepted.”

All three of them rolled their eyes in unison.

Percy was the one to argue with him though, “He’s the top of his class, has created two groundbreaking potions, and just sent in a third with his new form a Dreamless Sleep, as well as changed the game of mind healing as a field. Who wouldn’t want him to visit for a year?”

“I cannot believe you are all on board with this,” The blonde of their quartet muttered unhappily, chewing his thumbnail to the quick. 

“Maybe he’ll lose interest,” Albus offered, “It’s just too far away to worry about.”

“One crisis at a time,” Percy agreed, “Let’s get through Time of the Blood first.”

“Let’s get through his mating dream,” Mat whacked the mole on the head, “You mean.”

“Let’s not talk about it.”

“It’s going to be fine, Perce,” The fae among their lot tried to soothe him empathically, “Draco is no worse for wear after finding out he’s matched with Astoria.”

Sirius and Narcissa were quite pleased with the pairing that had been revealed between their family and the Greengrass line. The second year witch had only just flowered early by a week when Draco turned fifteen in June and got his mating dream, so the two were still figuring out what their relationship looked like, but Daphne was thrilled for her sister. Their parents were still in a bit of shock, both having had their dark marks removed by Percy the summer before, by their sudden exposure to a family that was such a mix in terms of blood status, but it truly looked like control of the line had passed to their oldest daughter anyway. And the pair were a perfect example of how mating didn’t have to be a crisis, if everyone just kept their heads about the whole thing.

Percy just went back to packing and didn’t respond though. And Albus understood, really he did. After all, there was a long history in Lestat’s lineage of mating bringing some form of upset. He and Louis had separated harshly when the Snow White look alike had his relationship with Armand. And Albus had been at the center of the drama concerning Percy’s own mating crisis. James and Severus had their issues and Eileen had run off with Tobias to a tragic end. Isolt Graves and Percival Potter had been quite the pair and happy according to Lestat and Louis, but even they wound up torn apart by the Bloody Convocation.

The only one to escape mating drama amongst the family was Claudia Graves, who had never found any of her mates, but that was almost as tragic.

When finished packing they all put their bags in the living room with Harry’s and, as the rest of his lovers went to sleep, Percy wound up in the doorway to his son’s room. Ana had been so very upset by her brother’s absence that she wound up wanting to go to bed in the teenager’s room and Coatl was twisted into a perfect little cradle next to his human, the baby sleep in the tiny nest that he created, one tiny hand holding onto the Gryffindor’s finger. Though his son’s new form of Dreamless Sleep hadn’t passed trials yet, Harry and Severus both knew it would work, so the young seer had taken a dose to make sure that he got plenty of rest before their trip that he was so excited for.

He checked over the room and wasn’t surprised when Tanda flew in to do the same. His turul familiar checked on Iggy, Hektor, and Hedeon, where they were all nesting in the tree on the far wall and everything else was quite in place throughout the rest of the space. It just highlighted that the vampire was torturing no one but himself with this constant worrying.

But, Albus’ thoughts had been spot on before they went to bed. Descendants of the Brat Prince weren’t exactly known for having seamless outcomes after finding out who fate had destined for them. Things always went wrong.

And Harry had already faced too much. Percy genuinely didn’t want that for his youngest. Père had been picking on him for two years now about Harry being his favorite and in a private moment the Director of Security could confess that it was true. Sometimes he could almost forget that the Boy Who Lived wasn’t his biological son, because he could see so much of himself in the only son of his only son’s only son.

Still, as the hours ticked by, there was nothing to be gained from watching over the pair, and he forced himself to go get some sleep. After coming into his vampire inheritance, sleep was like flipping a switch on and off, so the process was a quick one. And it was no surprise when Ana was the one to wake them all up crying the next morning.

“One of these days,” Mat muttered, trying to hide his face in Percy’s pillow, “She’s going to want to sleep until noon and I will make her pay.”

Albus laughed and was attempting to hide in his own pillow, but Gellert was already getting up, so he lost his snuggle buddy. The siren threw on his house coat, even as the crying quieted suggesting that Harry was already up with the baby, “I’ll allow it. What time do we have to leave?”

“Any time we want,” Percy assured, “His majesty and Mamie are already there. We just need to show our faces by sundown.”

All that meant to the fire fae was that they could go back to sleep for a few more hours. Would have been nice, if Harry hadn’t come barreling into the room, after handing his sister off to the Liberator, to jump on their bed enthusiastically, “Get up! Up! Up! It’s time to go!”

The Headmaster groaned and tried to hide underneath the covers.

“Gingy! Come on!” Harry begged, “Pépère said that he’d get there early! We’ve got to go!”

The vampires laughed at his enthusiasm and quickly got up, leaving Albus to suffer the energized teen by himself, and Harry certainly didn’t ease up. He nagged for a while more, before the older Gryffindor finally caved, “Alright, I’m up! I’m up! Go help with breakfast or something!”

“Okay!” Harry bounced off and gestured for Hedwig to keep an eye on things while he left.

Iggy watched for a few minutes, but when it became apparent to her that the ginger wasn’t getting up and instead was dosing back off, she screeched in tandem with Fawkes to wake him up. Though he was cursing in gaelic, the wizard finally hauled himself from bed after flipping both of them off, and got up to face the day with the rest of his family. Both phoenixes flew out behind him, mostly for fear of being plucked as a result of his wrath.

His grandson was bouncing around helping with breakfast, while Albus was so tired that he stooped to drinking Percy and Harry’s coffee for the first time in his life. It tasted god awful, but it got him to wake up and join the party. Gellert made breakfast sandwiches and once Harry had eaten sent the teenager to go shower before they left. They all took turns in the shower and then it was time to go.

Harry was about to come out of his skin with excitement, which Gellert assured was far better than him being down with a migraine, as they shrunk all of their bags and got ready to floo to Night Isle. It was their daughter's first time partaking in the magical transportation, so they had the Little Prince go through first, that way she could have her big brother when it was all over. And he certainly didn't object.

When he landed in a burst of green flames it was to arrive in a space that reminded him of Slytherin's Common Room, with the dark grey stone of the floors and walls, as well as the black leather furniture that spanned the large room. There was a large bar in one corner of the room that would make Gabby jealous and Coatl untwisted from him to explore just as his other three familiars teleported into the room. His vampire family, and Nanny, were already there and he beamed at the sight of them.

"Little Prince!" Pépère had been making out with one of the dozen strangers that was littered around the room, but he jumped up to hug Harry.

The teenager bounced over, "Pépère!"

He heard the floo fire again as Mamie appeared from wherever he'd been, but he left the shorter vampire's arms as Ana started to cry. Nagyi handed the little bundle over and Harry bounced her until she stopped crying, then passed her to Pépère. With the baby gurgling and content to see her grandfather, the Gryffindor went to look around as the rest of his family arrived.

Eventually the Hard Charger called him back over to get settled and they went to the rooms where they'd be staying for the next couple of weeks. Pops arrived just in time to ride the elevator with them and helped the teenager unpack. They'd taken the two rooms on the right side of the floor, while the Deathly Quartet took the left, planning to transfigure the second room on that side into a nursery for Ana.

"Harry, I know you're excited to find out," Severus sighed, "But I don't want you to be dis…"

Harry heard the floo fire again below, "I bet that's Wednesday!"

He was gone in nothing but his favorite jeans before the thirty-five year old could even finish his thought and it had been an ongoing problem for the last six months. With a wave of his wand the boy's things put themselves away and he went trudging out to the common area of the heir floor. It was spacious with brown leather furniture and warm wood tables, but Severus was more interested in the bar.

"Couldn't get a word in?"

"None of the words that matter," He finished mixing his Bloody Mary and leaned over on the bar, "I don't know what to do with him, Uncle Percy."

The older parselmouth grabbed a bottle of whiskey and poured it over ice, "Nothing to do, much as I hate to admit it."

"What's there to hate about it?" Mateo demanded as he abandoned their room, where both his other lovers were talking a nap with Ana. After all, the contestant pitch black of the sky above Night Island certainly lent itself to bedtime for non-vampires, "You two worry way too much. He's a good boy, if a little mischievous."

After a hundred and ninety-five years, Percy couldn't be surprised when the jerk stole his drink and just poured himself another, "Do you know how many ways that mating dream could go sideways?"

"Who do you think he's going to end up with? Armand?"

Both descendants of the Royal Slut choked on their drinks and glared at the music teacher when he laughed at them. There were just certain things that they would not tolerate him joking about. Percy got him in a headlock and they tussled until Gomez arrived a few minutes later with Morticia, having unpacked on the guest floor right below them.

"Well, they are off to explore," Gomez cried in his usual loud way, Morticia on his arm and his older brother, Fester, at his other shoulder, "Are we ever going to let on that we approve?"

"Not even a bit!" Percy insisted, taking his youngest godson from the vampiress, "They might decide to hate one another."

Harry hadn't even gotten past his greeting before Wednesday was dragging him out to explore the vampire island, Pugsley just a step behind. Once outside they were able to get a good look at the dark domicile that was Lestat Tower where they were staying. It soared into the sky and sat in pointed opposition to a larger white building that reminded Harry of Gringotts, but which the witch on his arm called Blood Hall.

Apparently that was where the Council of Elders stayed and he inquired for if Marius would be there yet. Neither of the Addams kids were sure, so they went to explore the rest of the island. The place wasn't huge, only one street spanning the whole island and marking the distance between Lestat Tower and Blood Hall, but business upon business were set wall to wall on either side of the road.

And where Diagon Alley was marked by sharp edges on jutting businesses, Night Island's marker seemed to be neon. Every business was glowing with different brightly colored signs, all of them standing out sharply against the darkness that marked the sky above. Though not a star was shining in the sky, Harry could already see the outline of the new moon despite the early hour, and he had a better understanding of Grandpa Percy's warning that time was easily lost during this holiday.

There were gift shops, and supply stores, as well as menageries and bars. It was the latter they wound up in after a couple hours of exploring, Harry and Wednesday trying out the orgy room after a couple drinks, while Pugsley pouted at the bar. Both of them understood his plight, even if they couldn't fix it.

An unspoken rule of Time of the Blood, as Grandpa Percy had told him, was that only mates or spouses could attend with non-vampires. Even though the oldest Addams son had been going steady with Neville and Dudley since the Yule Ball, neither qualified. Mione swore they'd end up mates, but no one was for sure. Other magical races tended to be linked to their magic fully developing naturally, rather than it all coming in at fifteen like sirens, and Neville and Pugsley were both still growing despite their inheritances that included a mating dream.

So, even though his friend was a bit down and out, they were determined to help Pugsley have a little fun at the holiday. After a few joints they commondered the stage to sing and the activity seemed to put a bit more pep into the younger boy's step. When true night finally fell upon them, the trio met back up with their families to watch an opening stage troupe performance in an outdoor clearing that Mamie had told Harry about.

He put together instantly that it was Armand's troupe as soon as he saw the redhead and heard Pépère already mouthing off for all to hear while his mate and husband shushed him. One good thing came out of the performance though, "Lestat!"

"Marius!"

Harry perked up from his place under Gingy's arm as the two collided onto one another. The taller vampire had lost his red velvet coat from the World Cup to be bare from the waist up except for his jewelry. From what Harry could tell it was all different crystals and gems held together by black leather chords in a plethora of bracelets and necklaces.

The coat had hidden just how broad the Vampire Elder actually was and had Harry and Wednesday sharing a look. Of course, them meeting glances had them missing when Percy, Mat, and Gomez did the exact same thing behind them, the trio remembering when they had the exact same realization as young men. Though he and Armand had an understanding, neither had any mates and Percy instantly wondered if the teenagers would pursue that opportunity; he and his friends certainly had in their youth.

They hugged the Elder when he came over and Percy introduced him to Albus, after Gellert got his hug from the vampire who he hadn’t seen in decades. His fae mate happened to be the one holding Ana in the crowd and Marius didn’t hesitate to comment on how beautiful their daughter was. Though they weren’t passing her around for every vampire under the night sky to hold, when the two month old reached out for the man, the Hard Charger told him mate that it was fine to pass her over.

After letting the baby paw at his necklaces for a few minutes and cooing at her, Marius passed Ana back and turned his attention to Harry and Wednesday. He’d met the Addams daughter once at the Time of the Blood in ‘85, but thought she might have been too young to remember him specifically. And when he saw all the tattoos that littered Percy’s youngest, that quickly drew his attention to the artwork, “My, Little Prince, I certainly didn’t know that you had all of these the last time we spoke.”

His finger ran across the rainboa on the Gryffindor's stomach and Harry grinned through a shiver, “Some of it’s older and some of it’s new.”

“And who is this lovely lady?”

Coatl had gone back to Lestat Tower to the terrarium that Harry brought with him when the performance started, but Iggy was on his shoulder standing guard. Muerto was sticking close to Pugsley, while Hektor had taken up residence on Wednesday’s shoulder. Hedeon flew over from his perch on Nagyi when he realized his human was introducing all of his familiars to the new vampire and Marius thought the triad was quite impressive.

When the play ended everyone clapped politely, even those who hadn’t truly been paying that much attention, and slowly the crowd disbursed. Harry and the Addams kids followed Marius back to a bar that he owned on the island and if that decision led to a roll in the hay with the Elder, then that was Harry and Wednesday’s business. As long as Pugsley could keep his mouth shut, of course.

They didn’t have anywhere to be until the clock finally struck eleven and Marius led them from his private booth to Blood Hall. It was a gorgeous place, filled with moving portraits of famous vampires living and dead, as well as artifacts that held special significance for the race lining the halls. The Elder taught them much as they walked on either side of him through the halls and to the grand room where Harry’s presentation and the first marriage of the season would take place.

Curious as they got comfortable on a series of sofas that seemed to be marked off for the Elders, Harry asked Marius about the conclave the previous summer. Though he hadn’t been on Night Island, the Boy Who Lived had no doubts that the vampire had been instrumental in the organization of the event, and though blue and gold eyes appraised him warily eventually he was given his answers about the happenings during that fortnight. Wednesday was just as interested and they chatted about the removal of the dark marks until Harry was summoned to the Brat Prince’s section by Grandpa Percy.

The Addams family was settled in the next section over and Harry flopped down on the cushion between his vampire parents as everyone took a seat for Pépère’s opening remarks. They were brief as he expressed his excitement to announce the next of his line to rule Vampire Society and to  _ finally  _ get to marry off his son. The teenager grinned and looked up just in time to see Grandpa Percy roll his eyes.

The Hard Charger muttered, “Should have let me overthrow the bastard when we had the chance.”

Papa Wolf chuckled, but didn’t agree or disagree.

Harry was summoned up to the raised dais of shining steel and Pépère took his left hand holding the heirship ring on his middle finger before Mamie pricked one of the Prince's fingers with a dagger. A drop of his blood cell onto the ruby in the lion's mouth, an irony given that his grandfather had once given up the ring due to prejudice only to now bring it back under his control, and Harry felt the magic of the piece quake with change as its power grew.

When the room erupted into cheers he hugged the reigning Prince before changing places with the Deathly Quartet, so the first marriage could be performed. Holding Ana just off the stage, the ceremony was pretty simple as well. They said the same vows common in most magical weddings, a testimony offered by Pops getting sentimental next to him, and Pépère tied a red silk ribbon around their four joined hands. The four said ‘I do’ at the same time and the Brat Prince announced them as wed, earning another round up applause from the whole room.

Following the presentation and first marriage, everyone went back to their regularly scheduled orgies and consumption. Tio and Tia Addams were keeping Ana for the night, so he and Wednesday went back to exploring with Pugsley. There were all sorts of shops and things to try, though Harry had been warned to watch the substances he took.

No one was worried about someone trying to poison him on Night Island, no one would be that stupid, but many might forget that he didn’t have the metabolic boost common to their race yet. Luckily his friends were in the same boat, so they kept themselves at pleasantly buzzed levels. And they wound up spending most of their time at Marius’ bar anyway, so it wasn’t like the Elder wasn’t always looking out for them.

Sleep certainly became an oddity, even more than the seer norm. The only way to really know that a day had passed was when the clock tolled in summons for the nightly marital union and Harry would never forget the second night when it happened. He and Wednesday had been knee deep in a back room, when it struck them that they hadn’t slept since they got to the vampire holiday.

So, after attending that night’s marriage they did go back to Lestat Tower to crash for a while, the little vampiress just staying in Harry’s room after checking in with her amorous parents briefly. After twelve hours sleep though, their trio had sobered up and went back on the prowl again. Time of the Blood was certainly unique among holidays, in that Harry wasn’t sure how many people were going to actually remember most of it.

His third night on the island was uneventful and Harry wouldn't pretend to be able to keep up with all of the vampires that he was meeting. Marius promised that it wasn’t like many of them mattered and speculated on how many of them would be dust by the time the holiday came around again. And Wednesday made him laugh when she offered to help some of them along.

There was no telling precisely when it happened, but at some point Pugsley disappeared to crash again and Marius invited them up to his private loft, which Harry and Wednesday accepted. After a roll in the hay with the Elder, Harry shared a look with the witch and they silently agreed that the man was the most gorgeous thing on the gods’ ground. The second heir in line to Vampire Society didn’t have much use for Armand in general, but at least the redhead hadn’t wanted exclusivity of the tall, muscled, blonde with blue and gold eyes; it would have been such a waste.

“Harry, dear,” Wednesday made a gesture to the ties of her blood red halter top, “Could you?”

He’d started getting a migraine about half an hour before, but still nodded where he had just finished buttoning his jeans, “Of course, darling.”

“You use those terms often,” Marius noted, still naked and watching them from the middle of his bed, “Why?”

“It’s from Harry’s favorite children’s movie,” The witch noted, “Lady and the Tramp.”

“Great,” Harry muttered, “Now I have to go throw myself off Lestat Tower.”

The Elder just chuckled, “I think it’s cute.”

The seeker flushed, but didn’t further comment. Instead he went to the dresser mirror and made an attempt to do something with his hair. He wasn’t looking for a miracle, just to look less like he’d spent the last three days fucking, drinking, and smoking. His grandparents were raising a gentleman though and he moved out of the way when Wednesday went to redo her braid and even finished the plait for her.

In the mirror he noticed the ancient vampire smiling gently and raised an eyebrow, “What?”

“Nothing,” He dismissed, though the look on his face didn’t disappear, “Just watch fate unfold.”

Neither of them knew what that meant, but Harry figured he would write it off as a result of his migraine that just kept getting worse and worse. When he said as much Harry wasn’t as surprised as he should have been when the only vampire Pépère listened to warned him that it was only a an hour until midnight; more importantly his fifteenth birthday.

His grandparents were probably already wigging out in concern for where he was, everyone knowing that he was skipping the night’s marriage due to his siren inheritance coming in, and he set out quickly with Wednesday to book it back to Lestat Tower. A mist had rolled in by the time they made it outside and a chill had taken over the air, uncommon for the area, but not unheard of. And Harry was actually the tiniest bit grateful as it meant that the neon wasn’t making him want to blow every sign on the way to smithereens.

Wednesday was talking about how she had to talk to her parents and get some homework done while he was having his growth spurt when he heard the first hollers erupt. They didn’t make his turn around, because there was always someone hooting and hollering on Night Island. And the witch had moved on to whether or not he’d completed his application to study abroad with her at Ilvermorny for a year, when a blood curdling scream interrupted the night.

Harry spun around to see what in the world was going on and it wasn’t hard to spot. A cyclone of black was attacking the far side of the island, shrouded in mist and making the temperature drop rapidly, ice forming on the building closest to it. When Harry looked closer he could see some of the darkness defecting to attack individuals nearby. He knew that they’d defected, but no one had thought they’d be dumb enough to attack like this.

Fucking dementors.

“Wednesday, go get my grandparents,” Harry ordered, “Run!”

She nodded and took off through the crowd.

Harry knew they didn’t have time to wait though. Most on the island were vampires, but not all. Mates and spouses, as well as children who hadn't come into their inheritance at twenty five yet, were all in extreme danger.

He cast a wandless patronus, as powerful as he could make it, at the heart of the tornado formed of creatures and tried to ignore the way that it made his head spin. The translucent stag was able to throw the powerful force they created off kilter, but it also drew their attention to him. A handful of the bastards went on the attack, but wound up biting off more than they could chew when Hedwig, Hektor, and Hedeon all jumped into the fight. Golden phoenix fire was almost as efficient against the lot as a patronus and the dark creatures' effects couldn't hurt another dark creature, but Hektor had no such qualms. His Hungarian Horntail sized up to his largest and soared over to breath dragon fire at the heart of the remaining formation, forcing the dementors to fragment even further.

Casting one more patronus of the same strength, it was all Harry had left in him with his magic becoming more and more unstable, the way his head spun forcing him to fall to a knee. When he looked up once more to see how the second stag would fare, he saw another patronus joining his, but it was a creature that he didn’t recognize. Humanoid in shape, he was able to tell that it had large ears and eyes, even in the translucent blue form, and it looked to be doing something that he’d never heard of a patronus doing before; shooting arrows into the vortex.

Several of the dementors came charging directly after him, but they were stopped by a vulture patronus. Vaguely, somewhere in a part of his mind that wasn’t about to split open from pain, he wondered what constituted Fester Addams’ happiest memory. But, it wasn’t the time to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Somewhere above him, Harry heard Fawkes shriek and it brought a great sense of relief; his grandparents had arrived. Shaking his head to try and clear his vision, he looked back up in time to see a thunderbird, dragon, phoenix, and turul patronus soar in to break up the remainder of the cyclone, while a doe flew right over his head to chase away the sparse dementors that had been attacking individuals. Trying to get up once only proved to make his head worse, so the teenager had to stay down, but he felt the temperature of the island rising almost immediately upon the protection spells casting.

“Little Prince,” He recognized Mamie’s voice and was relieved when the man kneeled in front of him, rather than expecting Harry to get up, “Are you hurt?”

“No, just dying,” He muttered and it sounded slurred even to himself.

Pépère was there too, because he could smell the vampire’s perfume when he was pulled into a hug by the Prince, “That’s what happens when you overextend yourself. Especially when you’re magic’s already unstable.”

“Let me have him, Lestat,” That was Nagyi and thank Odin, because he was about to suck off the siren’s magic like a sponge.

Harry changed hands and instantly felt better for it. With the Liberator to leech off of it was less painful to listen in on the conversation taking place a few feet above him.

“Rat bastards,” The Brat Prince cursed, “We have to get the island secured.”

“Mat, Sev, and I can handle that,” Grandpa Percy broke in, sounding ready to rip someone’s throat out, “Go on to Blood Hall and let the Council know that it’s being handled. Albus, help Gel get him back and unconscious.”

“Where do I sign?” Harry muttered.

Percy ran a hand through the boy's hair and watched as his mates nestled him between them to get moving back toward the tower. When Wednesday had come running in yelling about a dementor attack and Harry being in danger, he’d been smoking a cigar with Gomez, wondering where the hell his grandson was so close to midnight. Watching the teenager walk away now, he was trying not to throw up.

They were already terrified enough of what the night’s results would be. This was just fate gilding the goddamned lily. Harry should never have had to deplete his magic like that when it was already unstable.

“Hey,” Mat grabbed his arm as their son disappeared from sight, “He’s alright.”

"What if…"

"It didn't," The thunderbird hugged him close, "He's going to be fine."

Sev had his arms crossed next to them and was shaking his head, “Boy can’t sit anything out.”

“I can only imagine where he gets that from,” The wolf jested, pressing a kiss to the corner of Percy’s mouth.

“You, obviously,” The blue-eyed vampire noted before stalking off.

Night Island wasn’t huge and it was no hassle to hike out to the coast and simply walk the perimeter of the beach, localizing a barrier of protection there. Some younger vampires were already back to playing in the water, but all of them listened to him well enough when the heir to Vampire Society ushered them onto Blood Hall until they could finish their work. Between the three of them it didn’t take too long; barely even half an hour.

He shouldn’t have been surprised by who found them as they were finishing up. After all, he’d seen the first patronus to join Harry’s. And there was only one asshole he knew with a pukwudgie patronus.

Percy was bent over washing sand from his hands in the salt water when that all too familiar voice, which he’d always thought was soft as a cloud, broke through the night. He resisted the urge to growl as there was only one reason for the old man to come looking for them. And it was not happening!

Not after the way this night had gone.

“My, oh my! Never a dull moment at Time of the Blood!”

He didn’t have to see Mat’s beaming smile to know that it was there, “Headmaster!”

“Mateo, youngin’, look at you!” The two of them had to be hugging, but he stayed in his crouched position, “I heard you finally got sprung.”

“And it didn’t even turn to violence,” His lover jested, “Who knew it was possible?!”

“Severus, my boy,” They were undoubtedly shaking hands, no one able to resist the American earth fae’s charms, “Any chance you’ve reconsidered offer?”

“Sorry, Headmaster Fontaine,” The Potions Master denied, “I’m quite happy with my current employment situation.”

“Well, I suppose I can’t object to egregiously. Albus is quite good at what he does for a youngster.”

Silence rang for two moments, Percy knew because he was counting.

“Ignoring me, Percival,” The man noted warmly, “Won’t make me go away.”

Taking a deep breath he stood up to face the music and turned toward the gathered group. Agilbert Fontaine had been Headmaster of Ilvermorny longer than Percy and Mat had been alive and still looked exactly the same as he had when they were in school. He looked about sixty and had ashy blonde hair that was equal parts color and silver. A short little thing, falling a couple of inches below Gellert, he always dressed in jeans and a button up; it didn’t matter how formal the occasion. Anyone that would listen quickly got informed that he hailed from Georgia and if he didn’t tell them, then his accent gave it away in a split second.

“Sorry, Headmaster,” Percy offered, extending his hand to shake the fae’s, “Always a pleasure.”

“Mmhmm,” Hazel brown eyes appraised him in the gentlest form of judgement, before he turned his sights to Mat without letting go of the Hard Charger, “I haven’t been this unpopular with one of my pupils since I ruined the last bunch's senior prank.”

His lover was no help, snorting and descending into a fit of giggles.

When he was finally released Percy’s hands darted into the front pockets of his jeans and he would have flushed if he still could, “Sorry.”

The fae just smiled and looked back toward the bustling vampire holiday, “That was quite a display by your youngest. Willing to step up, even to his own detriment.”

“He’s a good kid,” The vampire agreed, “Thank you for your help.”

“Of course,” Warm eyes came back to him, “I got his application to spend his sixth year at Ilvermorny just before we left home, actually.”

Wincing, he gave his all to avoiding the topic at hand, “How is Lady Tombs?”

Anabella Tombs was a vampiress and Elder even older than her husband, who hadn’t ever considered giving up her maiden name, not even for a moment. Percy had always thought the sharp, fierce, and sassy woman was oddly matched with her mate, but they certainly brought about a lot of laughter whenever together. And yes, he was trying to dodge the issue on their docket.

“She’s doing well,” His smile was still gentle, even as he pulled a gold card from seemingly nowhere, its borders decorated with a horned serpent, wampus, thunderbird, and pukwudgie in each corner, before extending it to the Hard Charger, “Ilvermorny would love to host him, provided he makes the grades this year.”

It took every ounce of self control that he had not to crush the card in his hands when he finally reached to take it, but instead he hoisted it slightly in a gesture of recognition, “I’ll pass it along.”

The Headmaster’s chuckle wasn’t mocking, just knowing, “This too shall pass, Percival.”

He popped from sight before the vampire could agree or disagree.

They made it back to Lestat Tower and found that everyone currently living there had hunkered down after the shitshow of the dementor's attack. Even his pere had returned immediately after performing the night’s marriage, the need to be a nest coursing through all the vampires, an instinct of sorts. Gomez’s family was tucked in safe on their floor and Albus was sitting in the common area one story above with Gellert.

Both confirmed that Harry had gone to get a shower after eating his ambrosia fudge, but that he wasn’t unconscious yet. So, he figured there was no time like the present. Severus and Mat joined his mates while Percy put on a pair of sweats, then he went to lie in wait with the ticket still held tight between his thumb and pointer finger.

When the water cut off, it felt like a punch to the gut.

Harry walked out in his scarlet Gryffindor sweats and took note of the vampire, “Hey. How did it go?”

“Island’s secure,” He studied the teenager, “How are you feeling?”

“Numb, from my hair to my toes,” Was the response before he dropped onto the bed like a fish hitting the deck and rolled to cuddle with his grandfather, “What’s that?”

With a sigh, he offered up the small card, “Headmaster Fontaine was impressed with you tonight. It’s your acceptance ticket to study at Ilvermorny.”

“Yes!” His cry was utterly delighted, even if it made his own head spin from the way he shook it after snatching the ticket, and he rolled away doing a slight dance, “This is amazing!”

“Congratulations,” Percy offered, but his tone must have given him away.

Harry glanced over and rolled his eyes, before returning to snuggle once more, “Come on, Pèpe, it’s not the end of the world!”

He got ready to say that it was, but then the title struck him and he changed directions in a blink, “So, you do remember what you used to call me?”

Every ounce of teenager pressed against him went tense at once and emerald eyes shot up to meet his, “What?”

“You called me ‘Pèpe’.”

“No, I didn’t,” He denied forcefully, eyes darting anywhere but to the vampire suddenly.

“I know what I heard,” Percy informed him, “What is the matter with you?”

“I’m sorry, I won’t do it again. Can we just drop it?”

He huffed and pulled the teenager’s chin up until the boy had to look at him, “No, we cannot drop it. What is the matter with you? You can call me ‘Pèpe’.”

“No, I can’t!” Harry denied vehemently, sitting up indian style as he insisted, “You are the Hard Charger!”

“The fuck does that have to do with anything? You call the Elder Wand Conqueror ‘Gingy’ and the Liberator ‘Grandma’ in Hungarian!”

“First of all, the bumblebee is cooky enough that no one thinks twice about it,” Harry held up a finger with each point, “Second of all, anyone who is shocked at the siren being a mother hen, gets over it after a few minutes’ exposure. And last of all, come on, it’s you!”

“Yeah, me,” He agreed, “Your grandfather? Remember? Showed up to haul your ass out of a bank vault two years ago to the damn day? Does that ring a bell?”

“It’s not the same though! What? Am I supposed to believe Dad went around calling you 'Dad' at MACUSA?”

Percy sat back a scoffed, before emphasizing each word, “Every. Damn. Day.”

“What?”

“Jimmy decided to call me ‘Dad’ when he was ten years old and Flea was never around,” He shrugged, “And he never called me anything else until the day he died.”

Big eyes blinked owlishly at him.

“Harry, son, just because you want to be an auror, does not mean that you can’t have a nickname for me,” He couldn’t believe that he’d been so upset about this, when Harry was worried over something so ridiculous, “I’m astounded how you get be so smart and get tripped up by something so trivial.”

“He just walked around calling you ‘Dad’ at work?”

“Yes. Believe or not, I could do both jobs at once,” Percy grinned at him, “Hell, he wasn’t even the first kid I had with me in the trenches; that was Theseus. Then Tina after him.”

“Oh.”

He just shook his head, unable to believe that it was this simple. And he dismissed Gellert’s reminder across their mating bond that he’d told Percy to just talk to him about it at Yule. He remembered no such conversation.

Not wanting to dwell on the topic anymore, he appraised the teenager, “Papa Lobo said you’ve been spending a lot of time at Marius’ place.”

Harry flushed, “Yeah.”

“Hmm… If you’re going to give any temptation, that one’s certainly worth it.”

The Gryffindor got ready to comment, before the implication struck him and he leaned closer to the older wizard, “You?”

Percy had to snort at who shocked he sounded, “Me, Papa Lobo, Mamie, Pepere. He’s a family tradition of sorts.”

“One hell of a tradition,” He quipped, “The man should come with a warning label.”

All he could do was laugh at that one, “Go to sleep, Little Prince.”

Harry let himself be kissed on the forehead and nodded, “Okay, night.”

The vampire had already stood up, but lavender blue eyes shot back down to the teenager and waited.

That got him an eye roll, but also a, “Goodnight, Pepe.”

“Thank you,” He muttered as he walked out of the room, “You'd think I was asking for a kidney.”

Hearing the comment did make the emerging siren snicker, but he quickly settled into the covers of his bed. He must have fallen asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow and the vampire hit the lights. There wasn’t a whole lot of time to worry about if anyone would think him calling the Hard Charger by the nickname was weird, because it seemed like within a moment he was in a room filled with scarlet clouds.

He explored for a moment, but there wasn’t truly anything to find. So, when there was a sound, like a whoosh, he turned to see what fate had in store for him… And he was going to have to keep a closer eye on Marius de Romanus; the man knew things.

“Hello, darling.”

“Harry, dear,” Wednesday looked around and had to admit, “Father will be pleased.”

“Fair enough. This might even keep my side of the circus from having a stroke.”

Before they could say more the witch started to fade away and Harry fully expected the same to happen to him. Instead, he remained in the valentine dream. And then there was another whooshing sound.

When he spun around on his heel it was to see a familiar redhead with big brown eyes blown wide, "Harry?"

"Hey there, Gin. You alright?"

Rather than answering she looked around the dream and tried to touch the clouds. After a moment she seemed to find her voice though, "You've always been the favorite kid. I suppose it's only right you marry into the clan with one of us."

"I guess you're not wrong. Gingy will love this."

She started to fade as well and huffed, "See you when you get back."

"Definitely."

When she was gone he held his breath at another of the same odd sounds and looked around. Instantly he felt guilty at seeing the terrified blonde with her back to him, her shoulders tense as a tripwire, "It's just me, moon beam."

This time in was her spinning on her heel to look at him, "Harry?"

"I sure hope so."

He had to chuckle when she rushed to hug him. They were able to share more than a few words and Harry promised her that it didn't have to mean anything if the elf didn't want it to. The discussion could wait until he got back from Time of the Blood.

Luna seemed comforted by that and soon she was fading away, but this time Harry felt the same thing happening to him. As he wrapped up what most considered to be the most important part of coming into his siren inheritance, the Gryffindor also realized that the ginger had been right two years before. It happened so fast, it would have been hard to get a word in edgewise if he didn't already know all three girls.

As consciousness came back to him, Harry wouldn’t pretend to know what time it was, as that was just the nature of Night Island. He realized immediately though that everything was fuzzier than normal and when he reached to get his glasses they weren’t there. Only his watch.

Hand darting upward to feel his face, Harry realized that he’d fallen asleep with them on. Apparently fate had deemed it appropriate to fix his vision. He shook his head to try and make himself adjust to the change faster. Luckily the Prince pocket watch was charmed to also identify morning or night, so a quick glance told him that it was just after ten in the morning.

He got up and was thrilled to find that he’d soared up to six feet and three inches tall, A few extension charms on a pair of his jeans had him ready to face the day and assure everyone that the world wasn’t going to burn down because he got his valentine dream. Particularly Pèpe.

Coatl slithered up to twist around him and they chatted as Harry moved to go find his family.

They certainly didn’t have to look far, Pepere, Mamie, the Nans, and the Deathly Quartet all waiting anxiously at a table with Pops; the lot looked faint. Nine sets of eyes were instantly glued to him and the teenager rolled his eyes, “I’m fine. Yes, I got it. And no, there’s no reason to panic.”

Gingy snorted, “Who was it then?”

“Wednesday, Ginny, and Luna.”

“Three,” Papa Lobo wolf whistled, “Impressive, Little Prince.”

“Damn, damn, damn,” Nagyi was muttering under his breath.

And Harry would have been offended, if it wasn’t for the fact that he had a hunch about why, “Gabby won the betting pool?”

“Don’t say it so loud,” The Liberator instructed curtly.

“Well, you’ve got ten days before he finds out,” Harry reminded, dropping down at the table to get at the assortment of food splayed across it; there were perks to the previous Dark Lord stress baking.

He couldn’t even feign that much surprise when their door busted open and it was Tio Gomez leading in his family, “Percival! Break out the champagne!”

And suddenly there were mimosas everywhere. As news travelled that he was awake and that he’d found out one of his mates was an Addams, important vampires started to show up to offer their congratulations; mostly Elders. Marius even came by and it looked like he’d won a private bet with Pépère, much to the Brat Prince’s annoyance. With the ancient vampire came Armand, but Harry figured it was best to take the good with the bad.

It didn’t take long before Harry was bored and most weren’t truly there to see him anyway. So, with a nod from Pèpe, he snuck out with Wednesday to get some time for themselves. They decided to go down to the beach and relax for the day, Pugsley remaining behind with his parents given the melee.

As they were walking through the sand Wednesday found a bunch of jellyfish that had washed ashore and set out to find out just how much of their venom she could actually take. Harry wasn't much for pain when he didn’t have to be and sat up on the rocks, but talking to her was never a chore. He had to confess to her that he couldn’t quite imagine who he would be if he’d been raised around his vampire clan.

“It has its rewards and challenges,” She confessed, soaking her stung feet in the salt water.

“How so?”

She studied Harry for some time, looking for the right words, before finally explaining, “When you’re an Addams, you have a very special duty. When you’re an Addams, you’re obligated to the clan. It’s family first and family last. And family by and by. When you’re an Addams, the standard answers don’t apply. When you’re an Addams… You do what Addams do or die.”

“Hmm… I think I can live with that.”

She grinned at him sharply.

And after his birthday Time of the Blood seemed to be over in but a mere moment. Everyone was packing up to go home on the last night of the event, giving long and arduous goodbyes, many expecting not to see one another until the next holiday a decade later; a problem Harry did not have. He kissed Wednesday goodbye and promised to come over in a couple of days.

Hopefully he’d be bringing Ginny and Luna too.

As much fun as he’d had for the fortnight that they were on Night Island, getting back to the Headmaster’s suite in Hogwarts was also a familiar sort of exciting. Coatl unravelled from him and took off for his terrarium just as the rest of Harry’s familiars teleported into the space. He had to side step quickly to avoid being plowed over by Grandpa Gel with Ana, but the same thing happened to the Liberator when the siren’s husbands came through.

They all rushed to shower and wash the last two weeks from their bodies once and for all. At the event showering was just a way to gear up for the next excursion, but getting under the hot spray now felt like a true renewal. It worked out well enough that it was around ten o’clock at night, so they could all crash and begin resetting their sleep patterns the next morning.

By the time Harry woke up the next morning, Pèpe was already at work, as was Gingy, and Papa Lobo was in the Headmaster’s office with him trying to help. He scarfed down breakfast and then went to meet up with the band at the Hog’s Head; as predicted there was no living with Aberforth Dumbledore when he found out who Harry’s mates were. Unfortunately there wasn’t a lot of time with Ginny and Luna, everyone vying for his attention, but it was wonderful to see all of his friends.

Since there had been so many substances running amok at the vampire holiday, Harry wasn’t much in the mood to partake, so after watching up with his grandfather they all decided to cobble together a pickup game. Only problem with the plan was, since the Headmaster had been gone for an extended period, the bloody thing was locked.

So, he brought the twins with him to have the Elder Wand Conqueror do his thing and open up their favorite pastime. He felt bad for the Headmaster and Chief Warlock when the mountain of letters from a fortnight in absentia came into view. It was truly monstrous.

Fred wolf whistled and jested, “See, this is why I’m an underachiever.”

“Good gods,” George snorted, “I feel threatened from all the way over here.”

Albus just chuckled and opened the next missive awaiting him, “What are you boys up to?”

“We need you to unlock the pitch,” Harry put in.

“Oh, yes...” He read over the letter quickly and cursed, “Damn it.”

“What’s wrong?” The rising fifth year queried.

“Nothing, truly,” The Headmaster dismissed, “It’s just time for the Ministry’s inspection. Very routine; comes up every couple of years… Looks like our inspector will be a Ms. Dolores Umbridge.”

Harry wasn’t expecting both twins to perk up.

“I’ve heard of her,” George started.

“Percy says she’s a right nut!” Fred hissed.

“And if he says it…”

“...Then it must be true!”

The Gryffindor seeker hummed and Albus got a bad feeling when he commented, “Well, we can’t have that.”

Sighing, the ginger set him with a stern look, “Harry, you cannot do anything to her.”

“Me?” His hands went to his chest in faux offense before the trio took off for the stairs, “Never!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, due to the stress of the attack I've been writing a lot. I'vet go the first chapter of the Harry rescued as a baby spinoff done, as well as two chapters of a second year spinoff story. With that said, there are two ways that this story can go. I can wrap it up in two chapters, with a visit to Ilvermorny and Harry's seventh year, or it can go on longer. By 'longer' I mean that we can go all the way until Time of the Blood comes round again. Please let me know which you would prefer.
> 
> If we go for the longer version, I need something else to write when I get a muse blockage, so I'd like to go ahead and start posting some of the other spinoffs. I'd start with the second year spin, but I'll tell you right now, it looks nothing like the other Harry featured stories. It's only from the Deathly Trio's perspective, goes deeper into a few of the very smutty kinks that I've largely just alluded to before, and is a trash piece. I might even upload it tonight, if people are interest.
> 
> Otherwise, I'll finish this story prior to posting anything else like I usually do, it just won't go on as long.
> 
> Stay safe and healthy! Happy Monday! <3


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